


An Unwilling Ear

by SpiralGoddess



Category: Gravity Falls
Genre: After Weirdmageddon, F/M, Fluff, Just lots of fluff, Triangle Bill Cipher
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-02
Updated: 2018-01-09
Packaged: 2018-09-21 16:10:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 24
Words: 50,378
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9556514
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SpiralGoddess/pseuds/SpiralGoddess
Summary: Mabel stumbles upon Bill's statue and ends up talking to him. What happens when Bill finally get released?





	1. Stupid Frogman

Mabel sighed. She didn't know what to do with herself. They had only been back for a few days and already Dipper and Ford had disappeared into the basement. That wasn't how it was supposed to happen. Their parents had been so happy with their development over the summer they spent with their Grunkle they immediately contacted Stan to let him know the kids would be coming up again as soon as summer break started. So her Grunkles had planned their trip to make sure they would be back in Oregon for when the younger Pines twins returned. Soos had been so excited to hear that everyone would be coming back to spend the summer again and Melody had made sure to keep Mabel and Dippers room the same hoping they would return. As for the older Pines twins they cleared out Ford's room on the second floor of the basement and rearranged the room for the two to share. They had spent an entire year aboard the Stan O'War this room was a luxury in comparison.  So now she found herself out in the woods trying to keep herself distracted. She moved slowly the small stick in her hand slapping against the tree as she moved. "Stupid Dipper, stupid Grunkle Ford." She slapped the stick hard against the next tree watching as the small stick exploded into pieces around her. Tossing the branch to the side she crossed her arms over her chest. "Stupid purple Frogman..." She grumbled as she walked, the morning of that day replaying itself in her mind. 

_She had been sitting in the gift shop her small legs swinging as she sat on the counter next to the register watching her Grunkle restocking the shop before the first tour came through. Her smile stretched from ear to ear as her Grunkle hung the sweaters she had made on the rack in the shop. Dark gold sweaters with an image of the shack on the front and the words 'I survived the Mystery Shack' on the back. She had knitted the sweaters all school year in all sorts of different sizes just to make sure she'd be able to have enough for the summer. Her Grunkle had made a space for them immediately and had promised to drive her to the store for more yarn as soon as she asked.  "Well Pumpkin there you go-" Stan fell quiet as the vending machine flew open. Nothing happened for a moment before a rather large frog jumped out into the shop. "W-what? Grunkle Stan what is that?" They both watched as the dog sized frog...man...thing? The more they looked at it the more humanoid they realized it looked. The frogman turned to look at them before letting out a rib-bit. The minute his mouth opened though a large bubble left floating for a moment before landing on the shop floor and bursting. The liquid slowly began eating through the shop floor. Grunkle Stan had Mabel picked up and in his arms by the front door before the frogman could move again._

_She could hear footsteps on the stairs coming from behind the vending machine. Probably her brother and Grunkle coming to the rescue. Sure enough Dipper and her Grunkle Ford came running upstairs and into the shop. "Ford it's going for the door!" She watched from her Grunkles arms as Ford dived forward blasting the frogman with some weird gun before Dipper lunged forward his gloved hands grabbing the legs of the frogman as he began to drag him back towards the basement. "Ford what the he-eh-" Stan stumbled over his words still trying not to curse in front of the kids. "What is that thing?" His voice was seething and Mabel wormed her way out of his arms stepping towards Dipper. "It doesn't concern either of you."_

_Fords voice froze Mabel from moving towards her struggling brother. She had hoped that after weirdmageddon Ford would be more open towards her. Sure he took the time to talk with her at meals and when Grunkle Stan would call during the school year he would occasionally get on to correct Stan as he told them all about their travels. What was it about being back in Gravity Falls that made Ford get so cranky again? She watched as Stan's fists tightened and she could feel the tension raise in the shop before he exhaled and unclenched his fist. "Fine just tell me later." The tension left as Ford nodded and moved to help Dipper drag the frogman back into the basement._

_Stan turned to her, ruffling her hair before grumbling about finding Soos and having him patch up the hole in the floor. Mabel frowned watching her Grunkle leave before turning to exit the shack she didn't want to be inside anymore._

She flopped onto the ground a sigh passing her lips as she dug her elbows into her knees resting her face in her hands. "Wowie, it sure is quiet." Lifting her head from her hands she glanced around the area she was in. It was a rather dark area, the thick overhead from the trees cast a gloom feel around the area. As typical to the woods the soft purple glow made everything look magical. WHile there were no birds or insects the soft glow from fairy lights drifted around the area. Wait...what? She raised herself to her feet staring around the area. Why was it so quiet? She moved forward pushing herself through the bushes the branches snagging on her sweater as she moved. 

  
"What the flip-flop?" She pushed her back against the bushes staring at the statue in front of her. "B-Bill??" She stood as still as she could, would the stone crumble? Was he jus waiting to break out and attack her? She stood still for what felt like hours before moving towards the statue her hands tugging on the collar of her sweater. "Y-Yo corn chip!" She reached forward with her right hand poking him on his hat before retreating a few steps back. She held her breath for a few moments before lowering herself to sit down across from the statue. 

"So Just hanging around?" She slowly lowered her hands from the collar of her sweater as she stared at the statue. "Ya know, as bad as your...party? was? It was kinda fun." She brought her knees to her chest pulling her sweater down around them before pulling her arms inside. Not quite sweater town bu close. She did actually think his party was cool, if it wasn't for ya know, the mutations and stone people and horror and all. She thought for a minute, it would have been a cool Halloween party, everyone was pretty scared. Shaking her head she stared into the unblinking eye of the statue across from her. "You'll never guess what happened today...."


	2. Prank Royalty

"Hmmm what else should I pack?" Mabel brought her index finger to her face tapping her chin a few times in thought. She had her scrapbook from her school year to show him, sure she had already told him stories but she wanted to show him pictures. Just in case he could actually see in his stone form she wanted to make sure he understood what she meant. Plus everyone knows stories are 100 times better when pictures are involved.

"Oh of course!" Grabbing a few jars of glitter she dropped them in along with her grappling hook, she never went far without it. Zipping her bag closed she swung it around and onto her back skipping out of her room and taking the stairs 2 at a time. Passing her Grunkle Stan in the shop she disappeared into the woods Waddles following behind her.

Her parents had made sure she knew Waddles wasn't to come back this time. The pig was rapidly growing and their home in California was no place to raise him. Soos was happy to have the pig back he had always been fond of the pink animal and since Waddles wasn't a picky eater he knew he wouldn't have to worry about that. Melody had been very open towards the situation and Mabel had caught her more than once making kissy faces at her friend.

So the two of them moved through the woods, Mabel had the path memorized now having done this for at least a week. Waddles had calmed down now and would actually sit besides her in the small clearing instead of just outside the bushes.

Arriving near noon Mabel sat down next to the triangle, opposite the side of his outstretched hand. She nestled into his side adjusting herself so she was comfortable and allowing Waddles to stretch out on her lap. Pulling her scrapbook from her bag she flipped it open pulling her first day of school into view.

"Well I know I've told you about all this but here's some pictures." She giggled slapping his side, "I mean if you don't want to hear it again just say something." She waited a few moments before bursting into laughter and slowly working her way through the scrap book. Pausing her main story to run in a completely different direction with a side story that had nothing to do with the original.

"So Dipper he-" She snorted covering her mouth to help slow her laughter. "He looks up at me completely drenched." She broke into laughter again tears pricking the corner of her eyes from the strength she was laughing. "He's still trying to find a way to get back at me for that one." She used the sleeve of her sweater to wipe at her eyes taking a deep breath to calm herself. Twisting her head she stared at the one-eyed beast that had haunted her dreams for so long.

Her parents didn't know what to do with her or Dipper. Even with Bill defeated and unable to make them nightmares himself, he was still their main fear. The twins had resorted back to sleeping in the same room at their old home, something their parents had originally thought was because they had grown even closer over the summer. There were nights though they would race to the twins room to find them both screaming. Small hands clinging to each other with such a desperation you'd think they were fearing for their lives.

They had made such amazing progress elsewhere though. Dipper had been able to come out of his shell, making new friends and not relying on his sister so much and in turn Mabel had stopped relying on her brother. For the first time in years the Pines parents weren't worried about what would happen if they split up for college. Sure, their parents had asked hundreds of times what was wrong? What was the source to the nightmares? Neither said anything though, they wouldn't tell their parents or the therapist they had to go and see.

There were late nights their parents had overheard them talking, about Stan and Ford and someone named Bill. Why they called their great uncle two names was another unanswered question they simply added to the list.

Yet here she was, sitting besides and talking to the demon that had caused her such sleepless nights. It was weird really, that she felt so comfortable around the triangle. She wondered if they had met at a different time, one where he wasn't planning to take over the world, if they could have been friends.

"Maybe one day you and me can prank people together..." She twisted her head to her lap where Waddles slept his large nose snuffling with each breath. Resting a hand on top of the pigs head she stroked her pet losing herself in her thoughts. "With your magic we could pull off any prank! We could rearrange the whole shop while Grunkle Stan isn't looking."

She giggled nodding her head, "we could make noises whIle Soos does activities like if he was on a sitcom." She was bouncing now, "we could turn invisible an- no! Turn Grunkle Ford invisible! Oh man! We'd be prank royalty!" She sighed heavily letting some of the excitement leave her body.

Maybe one day. Maybe one day. Snapping her photo book closed she shooshed Waddles from her lap slowly standing before stretching out her body. She had stayed later then planned, another whole afternoon spent with the triangle and now it was darker then she would have liked.

"Sorry Bill, I gotta go before it gets too dark." Frowning she put her backpack on before leaning forward and placing a kiss on his hat. "Thanks for listening!" Busting into laughter she turned around and the pair left towards the shack.

Unbeknownst to them the entire way back a small blue glow from their bodies kept any supernatural creatures away.


	3. Mermando!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello Lovelies,   
> I just wanted to let everyone know that I normally try to format this to be read on phones.   
> If it's unsettling for anyone please let me know and I'll try to format it a bit differently!

She stared at the page in front of her re-reading it for the hundredth time. It was a letter written to her apparently sometime while she was in California from Mermando about how he would be out next summer and wanted to see her. She wondered if he was stil planning to come even though she never wrote him back.

Moving to the kitchen she pulled the old calendar Grunkle Stan had never changed from the fridge counting the days from when the letter was dated to when Mermando said he'd be likely to come. The letter said he'd only be able to sneak away for a week but he'd like to spend as much of that time with her as possible. Jumping from the kitchen table she held the calendar out in front of her "120 days!! That starts today!!" A screech left her lips as she bounded up the stairs dumping items into her backpack before taking them two at a time to return to the main floor. 

"GRUNKLE STAN!" She bolted into the kitchen her body stilling at the sight of her other Grunkle. "Oh..Hi Grunkle Ford, have you seen Grunkle Stan? I need him to drive me somewhere..." Ford set his coffee mug down before turning to face her. 

"Oh Mabel I'm sorry. He just left with Dipper for the store." Mabel's face fell, crossing her arms over her chest she thought for a moment. "I could drive you if you'd like. Soos left his keys here and Melody doesn't need the car today." Her smile immediately returned to her face and she nodded rapidly. "Thanks Grunkle Ford! I just need to go to the lake!" Confusion was clear on Ford's face but he remained quiet as they walked to the car. 

The drive to the lake was pretty quiet, unlike Stan, Ford was pretty decent at driving. Upon voicing this Ford began to ramble about knowing how to drive many different vehicles due to his travels and how cars here were actually pretty easy. He explained to her about some sort of vehicle he had come across in his travels that needed to be guided with his ears then proceeded to demonstrate causing her to laugh and spend the rest of the drive trying to wiggle her ears. 

Thankfully the lake was pretty empty, only a few boats dotted the lake surface but none near the shoreline where Mermando wrote he would be. Hitching up her backpack she trudged towards the designated area well aware that Ford was following behind her although he was more interested in the journal he brought then what Mabel was up too. She was thankful she had brought Ford instead of Stan. Stan either got into trouble or would follow her and while she knew he wouldn't have cared about the merman its nice she would have her privacy with him. 

She veered of the path and towards the underbrush near a bench her Grunkle decided to sit at. He was still within earshot of the girl and this would give her her privacy. She hadn't offered to tell him why they were her nor would he pry, he had his own secrets she was entitled to her own. Opening his journal to the beginning he skimmed through what he and Dipper had been adding over the last few days tweaking anything that needed to be fixed. 

Mabel raced to the water skidding to a halt before she could reach the waves. Shedding her clothes she folded them nicely in her backpack before slipping into the water, her pink bathing suit bright against the dark rocks. It was cold, so much colder then the pool and colder then she had remembered the spray had been when they had gone monster hunting. She sunk to her chin trying to calm her shivering body. Where was Mermando? Had she counted wrong? She wasn't the best at math but she was sure it was this week....

She waited for an hour at least, or what she could tell watching the people on their boats before a splashing sound alerted her to a visitor. Long brown hair emerged first and typical to his style he flipped it backwards a sly grin on his face as he saw Mabel. 

"Mermando!" Kicking off the rocks she surged towards the merman locking her arms around his shoulders and bursting into laughter. "I thought you weren't gonna show!" The merman easily kept them afloat returning the girls embrace. "Ah Mabel I'm sorry. Plans have changed I can only stay today." Backing a few strokes away from him she found herself back to an area where he could stand frowning at the merman. "Aw, is everything okay?" Mermando scratched the back of his head shrugging his shoulders as he answered. "My wife tells me I must come home."

Thankfully Mabel had gotten over her summer crush of Mermando. Sure she still liked him but not like that, he was married after all and to a beautiful manatee! So when he mentioned his wife she was able to bite back the sadness that threatened to smile. "That's okay! We'll just make this the best day ever!"

She had forgotten the cold. The excitement of swapping stories with Mermando had easily kept her warm. She left out her new friend though, she didn't want to tell anyone about Bill yet. Mermando had heard about weirdmageddon and she knew the merman would not be okay with her speaking to Bill. Even if he was just a statue. 

"Mabel it's been a wh-" Ford stood dumbstruck in his spot. Even with the murkiness of the water he could see the boys tail. He had hunted for a long time to find the merpeople at sea but they were so reclusive. Yet here was his niece casually talking to one? "Oh hey Grunkle Ford, this is Mermand! Mermando, Grunkle Ford." She motioned between the two a few times before turning back to finish hearing his story. "So what happened next?"

She heard shuffling from her Grunkle and watched as he moved closer to the water pulling his journal from his pocket at the same time watching as Mermando sunk further into the water. "Mermando?"

"Mabel I told you before my kind cannot be seen..." Mabel laughed before shaking her head grabbing onto the merman's hand. "Oh puh-leeeeze GrunkleFord is harmless he's totally in on all the spoopy stuff here in Gravity Falls. Remember I told you about the journals and the author? He probably just wants to draw you!" Mermando stiffened underneath her grip and she slapped him on the back laughing again.

"Oh Mermando you're so funny. Don't worry no one else sees the journal but Dipper and you two like already made out so there's nothing to hide there." Her Grunkle paused his drawing as he looked up towards the teens. "Dipper...made out with him?" More laughter filled the small cove as she pulled Mermando back towards the shallower area beginning the tale of the hottest day of the summer. 

"And so then I had to marry the Queen of the Manatees to stop a civil war!" Ford's drawing had long since been complete and he had enough notes to fill two pages of his journal. He had intervened only a few times in her story to ask questions he thought of and after a while Mermando began to open up to her Grunkle. Mermando had taken over the story towards the end to explain how he had gotten home. It was nice to see the two interacting and a wave of sadness hit her upon remembering this had been her only day with Mermando.

"Oh Mabel! We need to get you dry!" Ford's hands hooked under her arms and he hoisted her out of the water quickly taking off his jacket he wrapped it aroundh er before taking her in his arms to keep her bundled. He fumbled a bit storing his journal in her backpack so she could hold the bag while he held her. 

"I'll make sure to write you more I promise!" Mermando waved, a bittersweet smile on his face as Mabel called towards hm. She would have liked to at least given him a hug but now wrapped in her Grunkle's coat she realized how cold she really was. 

Snuggling deeper into the jacket Mabel let the smell of stale dust and something cosmic tug at her brain. It was a relaxing smell and as Ford settled her into the backseat she quickly drifted off to sleep. 

"Mabel? Mabel you have to wake up now." Slowly opening her eyes she found her Grunkle had carried her all the way up to her room. Shedding his jacket he frowned before taking it and guided her into the bathroom. A warm bath awaited her and without really thinking the teen crawled in, suit and all. "Don't stay in too long. I'll be outside waiting." With that he left the room and Mabel wormed her way out of her suit and kicking it to the corner of the tub. She didn't stay in the tub for too long, only long enough to rinse the lake out of her hair and off her skin. 

Stepping into a warm towel she buried herself into the soft white towel before moving into the bedroom to find her Grunkle Ford staring at the desk in between their beds. She moved quickly to pull on new undergarments and her floppy disk night shirt. Folding her towel she set it in the hamper in the closet before crawling over and digging herself under the sheets. With the noise of her crawling into bed Ford turned around pulling the covers and adjusting them so she was snug under them. He ran his fingers through her hair a few times before checking her forehead. "Sleep well tonight. I don't want you catching a fever. We can talk tomorrow morning." She grumbled something along a thank you before falling asleep.

Unfortunately it wouldn't be a peaceful night. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm going to try to update once a day so any encouragement of ideas are welcome!  
> Thank you to the lovelies who reading this!


	4. Nightmare

The first thing she registered was how much she ached all over. She was probably sick, she had been in the cold water for so long yesterday it wouldn’t be a surprise for her to be sick. The second was that she was no longer in her bed and now resting on prickly pine needles.

Ignoring her body’s protests she shot up her hands shooting to her head to help the throbbing. Oh man what a bad idea to sit up that fast, a bad, bad idea.  Once the black spots cleared her vision the girl frowned at the monochrome woods she realized she was in.

Her brain immediately connected to the time she had gone inside her Grunkle’s head. What had it been called? Dreamcake? No that wasn’t right… Dreamskates? Eh whatever. She didn’t know how she had gotten here or why she was even here though. The last time they had come through reading the journal and she knew for a fact she didn’t read the journal before falling asleep.

Was this the Dreamshape though? Could it just be a black and white dream? Was there a way to tell? Staring down at her hands she closed her eyes taking a few deep breaths before opening them to find two kitten faces staring up at her. Well wait, that didn’t solve anything…she could make kitten fists in dreams just as well as she could in the Dreambake.

Shaking her hands and returning them to normal she glanced around her gaze stopping on the statue sitting in front of her. “Bill?” She tilted her head moving towards the statue she had come to know. He still looked the same, his am still stretched out and there didn’t seem to be any new cracks in the stone.  Unsure of why she was here or what she was supposed to do she sat down next to the statue leaning against the stone like she normally did.

Wouldn’t that prove this was a dream instead? Wasn’t the Dreamlake his home? So why would he stll be a stone statue in his home? She wouldn’t want to be a statue, especially if she had guests over! How rude! No, she was getting distracted; if he was in this form it all but confirmed this was a sleepy dream not a Dreamrake.

She heaved a sigh the uneasy silence was beginning to get to her. Sure when she went to talk to him in the forest there were no birds or insect noises but she could always hear the wind in the tree branches. She could smell the pine or the rain when it threatened to spill.  Here…Here there was nothing. It smelt like nothing, there was no sound besides her breath and while she could feel the pine needles spread out beneath her they were smooth, not the rough odd texture real needles had.

Moving her hand to the ground she pressed hard against it imagining color flooding the world. She imagined the dark green of the trees with the purple tint of the gravity falls magic. She imagined the color brightening the area and bringing it more to life. Yet nothing happened, she was colorful still but there was no color elsewhere. Maybe it was because she was sick?

“Well, this is cray-cray.” She twisted her head up towards the completely black sky a frown tugging her lips at the sight. “I mean…this whole thing is cray but this,” she motioned to her surroundings. “This is suuuuper cray-cray.” She felt a shiver tear through her body before a yawn stretched her mouth open. She would have to top this over her smile dip induced dream, at least that one had been a fun cray-cray.

“I don’t know if you can hear me…but I guess it doesn’t matter cause I don’t even know if you can hear me when I talk to you when I’m awake.” She shrugged before adjusting herself to rest a bit more comfortably next to him. Well she wasn’t just going to sit here in silence she might as well tell him about her day, she was going to later anyway.

“So Grunkle Ford took me to the lake toda-” was that noise? She froze, shutting her mouth as she crawled to her feet using Bill to help her stand. What was that? She twisted her head trying to listen to the source of the crackling; it sounded…it sounded almost like…

The trees around the area burst into orange flames the flash of color that filled the area momentarily blinded her. Suddenly she wished it was silent again. Mixed in with the cracking of the fire she could hear screams, screams of the people she loved and cared about.

Screams she wished she could block from her ears but no matter how hard her hands pressed against them they would never muffle. She could smell again, the pungent smell she remembered burnt into her nose from when she exited her bubble during Weirdmageddon.

She knew this dream now; it was the same one that haunted her since last summer. Before she could move his laughter boomed around her, shaking the ground and forcing her to her knees. As soon as her hands connected with the ground she was covered in the black goo. Whatever had been inside the space snow globe thing she had given to Blendin now covered her hands.

Sitting up she wipes her hands on her sweater, watching in horror as the goo just spread covering more and more of her body. The goo is hot and it burns more than all the times she’s hot glued herself combined. At the same time it feels like she’s burning from the inside and there’s nothing she can do to put out the heat consuming her.

She’s tried in other dreams, she’s made it to the river to submerge herself, only to have the water boil. She’s made it to the shack and to one of the many fire extinguishers Ford had bought for the place after seeing how careless her and Stan where. None of them would work though, she would try each one only to find them completely empty, or if they did spray her it wouldn’t help.

It’s as the goo begins to cover her face she feels in immense relief from the heat and it startles her enough to open her eyes and stare down at her body. Only covering a bit of her knees blue flames licked at the goo and her eyes widened in a mix of confusion and horror. There were two things wrong with this.

The flames had never happened in prior dreams. She had always been surrounded by the goo and as it finally covered her face and she couldn’t hold her breath for any longer she would wake up. The second problem? Blue flames were Bill’s MO and if there were flames it meant he was near.

With a cackle of his laughter bursting into her ear she woke up her screams carrying through from her dream muffled by the piles of blankets and pillows that had covered her in the night. Kicking and swinging her arms wildly she tried to fight her way out of the makeshift prison.

A grunt from Waddles as one of her kicks connected and the pig jumped from the bed to avoid her wild actions. Once he would have tried to help calm her down but he was too big now and even in California he found lying on her just made her feel more suffocated and the girl would panic even more.

Once her head emerged from the blankets and the cold air of the attic hit her face she heaved in filling her burning lungs and silencing her screams. She brought her knees immediately to her chest pulling her shirt down over her legs she tugged her arms inside along with her head hiding herself from the world. Soft meows filled the room and she tried to recall all the pictures of kittens she could. It was a trick her mother had taught her to help fight her nightmares when she was really little and it had always worked, even with the nightmares involved Bill.

She didn’t know how long she had been in her makeshift sweater town but she finally felt her heart slow and she began to uncurl herself. She glanced over towards her brother’s bed and frowned. Dipper was nowhere to be found and Waddles had taken the opportunity to lie down there instead of risking being kicked again.

She didn’t blame her pig; she hadn’t meant to kick him but her brother? Why hadn’t Dipper come when she screamed? Why wasn’t he here to comfort her? Letting out a shaky sigh she crawled out of bed grabbing the first sweater and skirt she could find in her closet she threw them on, a simple black skirt and pink sweater combo.

 She had slept on her hair wet and was in no mood to mess with it this morning so she simply pulled it back into a low ponytail and slapped on a pink headband to keep her hair back. Shoving on her socks and shoes she trudged out of her room and down the stairs.

“I told you she’s fine Ford. It’s just a nightmare she has them all the time.” Mabel froze in the hallway her brother’s harsh words rooting the girl to her spot.  “She just needs to learn how to deal with them. I did.” Taking a step back Mabel shook her head, there were a lot of things bubbling inside of her and none of them she liked.

Dipper had been having nightmares right before they came here too! Who was he to act like it was just something she was going through! She couldn’t believe what she was hearing. She had come downstairs in the first place to seek out her twin, see if he would listen to her nightmare. She had always found that vocalizing them made them more tolerable but now she wouldn’t tell him anything.

“Plus she’s quiet now so she’s probably awake.” Mabel clenched her fists breathing heavily. It was obvious now what she should do.  Steeling herself she walked forward, meaning to walk right by the room she couldn’t help but glance in the kitchen her vision landing on her pink backpack which stuck out from its position on the floor next to the table. 

“Oh! Hey Mabes.” Biting her lip she snatched her bag from the ground quickly stuffing her arms through so it would fit on her back. Pulling her ponytail out from underneath the bag she turned on her heel leaving the kitchen just as silently as she had come.

 She’d go talk to Bill.


	5. Drawing a new Bill for the Journal

Flopping to the ground in front of Bill she let out a long sigh. She had gone slowly the entire way here, double backing and zig-zagging from her normal path just in case Dipper tried to follow her.

At one point she crawled up a tree and launched herself through a few branches before crawling down and continuing her walk. Jeeze it was like she was running from dogs with all she was doing.

Honestly, she didn’t think that he would follow her; if he didn’t care enough to check on her when she was having a nightmare then he obviously didn’t care enough to follow her out into the woods. Stupid Ford, stupid Gravity Falls, stupid everything! She bit down on her lip blood welling from the bite as she blinked back tears. She really didn’t want to cry while she was walking, that was how she’d trip and then she’d end up hurt.

It wasn’t until she saw Bill that she began crying. She didn’t know if she was happy to see Bill or not. On one hand he was the main reason she had her nightmares, on the other hand he was the one that had been listening to her the past week.  

Shifting forward she wrapped herself into what could only pass as a lap of the large statue. Lowering her face into her hands she began to mumble to Bill, knowing that while he could never give her the comforting words that she needed to hear, nor could he embrace her and calm her down like she wanted he would always be an ear to listen to her.

“I don’t like not being happy.” She sniffled before wiping her nose on the sleeve of her sweater. Twisting her body a bit more she angled herself into where his eye sat eerily watching her. “Of course I don’t think anyone likes being upset but I mean come on! I’m Mabel! I’m supposed to be happy! You even called me a happy name!” She twisted again so that her head rested against his outstretched arm her vision filling with the dark foliage of the trees above her.

“Shooting Star…as much as I couldn’t stand when you called me that it’s not a bad nickname. I mean people make wishes on shooting stars, they find happiness in them. I want to make people happy, I want to make people smile.” She took a quivering breath. “Bill can I tell you something?” She waited for a few moments letting the silence creep over her, the only sound the creak of the pine tree branches.

“This school year didn’t go like I thought it would. I know Wendy told us that middle school was bad and that high school would only be worse but nothing could be worse than this year! I mean I thought I’d make friends easily, come on! Look at me! I’m fashionable, cute, and funny and just such a good person despite what the unicorns say.

So why wouldn’t I make friends? Why would I be the only one in the school without someone to talk to?” She frowned lowering her head to stare at her hands as they began to pick at the edge of her sweater. She suddenly wished she had grabbed yarn to keep her hands busy.

“My parents don’t even know I don’t have friends. Shoot I don’t even think Dip-dop knows. I try to stay as positive as I can around my family; I mean I need to make sure it’s smiles all the time! I think that’s why the other kids don’t wanna talk to me though….

Everyone at my school is always focused on the newest fashion or the newest tech, everyone thinks it’s weird I make my sweaters.” She smoothed out the front of her sweater the soft yarn helping to calm her nerves. “They remind me a lot of the old Pacifica, or I don’t know how she is now but like when I first met her…

I don’t know, I don’t feel weird here…maybe I’ll just live in the woods with you the rest of my life. Oh, you know the proposal the gnomes gave me last year doesn’t sound too bad maybe the offer still stands….” She shuddered before shaking her head. “No, nope, still can’t do that one, never mind.” Smiling she twisted her head towards the trees once more, her hands rising to wipe of the remains of her tears.

“Maybe it’s okay for me to be upset every now and then, I mean look at you. You’re an all-powerful demon you know lots of things. Yet we made you so mad when we were in Grunkle Stan’s mind. If you can get mad why can’t I?”

She leaned her head into his face closing her eyes and allowing herself just to rest. Because of her nightmare she didn’t sleep very well and crying always made her tired. “Hey Bill, thanks for listening to me. You’re a good friend.”

With her eyes closed and the comfort of being next to Bill Mabel easily fell into a nap. Unfortunately because her eyes were closed she missed the small crack that started at Bill’s hand and crept up to stop at the end of his arm.

 

* * *

 

Mabel slowly opened her eyes, it was a bit darker but not much, she could tell she didn’t sleep for long. Even though it had been a shorter nap she felt so much more rested. Crawling forward and onto her feet she stretched out listening to her bones and joints as they popped and crackled.

Moving to where she had dropped her bag she dragged it over to Bill before pulling it open. “What the hey-hey?” She reached into her bag pulling Ford’s journal from within. Why did she have his journal? Had he left it in her bag from the other day? It was unlike Ford to forget where he placed his journal… She opened the book lowering herself to the ground a few feet away from Bill she flipped to an open page and smiled.

Immediately pulling her set of gel pens from her bag she uncapped them all and got to work. She was a pretty good artist if she was to say so herself and it was comforting knowing that she would be leaving her mark in the journal. A smile pulled at the corner of her lips and chrome filled her smile. Ford was gonna flip when he got to this page.

It was nice just to sit and draw the statue. It was a good way for Mabel to actually appreciate how he looked. He was equilateral for sure...she wondered if he would get mad if people teased him about his sides. Shrugging she went back to drawing him wishing she had a pencil instead of a pen so she could adjust the small things she didn't like but that didn't matter. That was what glitter was for! She had drawn him pretty well although she had decided against drawing him as stone and used her glitter yellow to color in his body. She didn’t need her Grunkle knowing he was trapped in stone somewhere in the woods.  

She had filled the pages with doodles of the triangle, one tipping his hat and the other dancing with his cane. Words like ‘listen wells’ and ‘good friend’ in her loopy pink pen danced across the page. To make sure the page was marked as her own she had drawn her zodiac symbol, her nickname, her shooting star, was doodled in the bottom corner of the right page.

She capped her pens, tossing them in her bag before pulling out the jars of glitter she had put in there what felt like a lifetime ago. Sprinkling the glitter across the page she made sure to add extra yellow glitter to his body. She felt a smile pulling at her lips before turning the journal around showing the triangle in front of her. “Look!” She pointed to her work her smile stretching as she imagined what he would say.

Pitching her voice higher than normal she used her freehand to pinch the bridge of her nose, “I do not look like that! My corners are much more equal! You drew them wrong! And my eye does not sparkle like that! My whole body does NOT sparkle Shooting Star!” 

Breaking into a fit of giggles she checked that the gel was dry before placing the book back in her bag and swinging it over her shoulder. Stepping over to Bill she leaned forward placing her lips just above his eye. “Thanks for today Bill.”

With a red face she spun on her heel and ran out of the area and back towards the Mystery Shack her heart thudding louder then she had heard it since her first kiss with Mermando. With a grin on her face she pushed into the Mystery Shack giggling as she went. Checking to make sure Dipper wasn’t in their room she slipped Ford’s journal into the covers of his bed before dumping her clothes in the hamper, changing into her pajamas and crawling in to bed to doodle triangles in her journal before falling asleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello Lovelies   
> Thank you all so very much for your love and support.   
> The reviews and kudos have kept me moving forward!  
> I'm so glad so many people like it!


	6. Summerween

She bolted up from bed, sweat making her body slick from her nightmare. It looked like so far she’d expect to have one once a week seeing as this was her fourth this summer.

Crawling out of bed and ignoring the fact that Dipper wasn’t here again she made her way out of their room and into the bathroom. There was a shower in there with her name on it and who was she to ignore it?

She had talked to Bill about her nightmares. Lately she had told Bill more things then she’s even told Dipper. There was no fear of being judged with Bill, he would simply stay in the same position with his outstretched hand listening to her as she rambled on. She’s pretty sure she just likes talking to herself. She had told Bill about the time Dipper had shaved his head to help her with her school photo after she had gotten gum in her hair to when she used to beat up Dipper’s bullies in school.

Stepping out of the shower she moved to her closet pulling out her costume for this evening. She was excited for Summerween, her grunkles had planned an amazing night she just wished Candy and Grenda were here to see it.

She had looked for them when she first got off the bus, just like her school year though there were no friends to greet her. Candy had been sent off to a gifted tech camp to spend the summer learning and expanding her knowledge. Grenda had been whisked off to some exotic land by Marius. Her longtime boyfriend had promised to spend the summer spoiling her  and she had agreed before she knew Mabel would be coming back.

So she was without her friends for the summer, she was sure that was why she sought out comfort in Bill so much. Part of her wondered if Candy and Grenda had been here if she would have spoken with Bill as often.

She slid on a pair of black leggings, wiggling herself into them before pulling the canary sweater from inside her closet and slipping it over her head.

The past two weeks had actually been pretty good. She had been able to slip away to talk to Bill and had been able to spend good time with her family, Soos, Melody and Wendy while they set up for Summerween.

Ever the businessman Stan had come up with the idea to turn the shack and the woods around it into a haunted house/scavenger hunt for the night. He would charge per person to go through and had already planned on making a good amount.

_“I’m telling ya Poindexter, this is the best idea I’ve had!” Ford rolled his eyes at his brother’s excitement but couldn’t help and feel the same energy bubbling inside him._

_“I agree Stanley, I think this will really knock their socks off.” Stan leaned forward slapping his brother on the back. “Oh I plan to knock more than just their socks off!” Dipper and Mabel moved into the living room lowering themselves to the floor to listen to their grunkles._

_Both were exhausted, they had spent the entire day just wandering the woods in search of odd creatures. Dipper had approached Mabel and told her he missed their Mystery Twin adventures and that was all she needed to hear. He just got so excited when he was around Ford, the man was a genius and so eager to teach Dipper. He had to keep a level head though, he had already begun to push Mabel away he didn’t want her to feel like she had last summer._

_“What chu talkin bout?” Stan eyed the kids by his feet a sly grin stretching across his face. “We’re gonna make so much money kids. We’re making a haunted house for Summerween.”_

So they had worked for the past two weeks on their grunkles’ ideas. It was nice to watch the two actually work together, they fed off each other with ideas. Stan would shout out an idea and Ford would bounce it back and before the twins knew it a new addition would be added to the evening.

Stan had his heart set on making this the scariest night he could and all of them, Soos, Melody and Wendy now included, agreed that the best idea was to somehow incorporate Weirdmageddon into their plan.

So a simple yet complex plan was born.

Melody would stay at the shack per her request as she didn’t like going into the woods at night. She would great the tours for the evening and set up the atmosphere, Bill was taking over Gravity Falls and they needed to find the members of the zodiac (minus Mabel) in order to create the wheel and stop Bill.

Melody would then get them set up with laser tag equipment to keep track of if they survived and who they took down. The hunters would start off in the shop finding small clues before eventually wandering out into the woods around the shack to hunt down Bill.

There were things hunting them though, Ford would recreate mechanical eye-bats that would simply float around and hit kids with their own style of laser. It would register as death on their harness and gun and they would have to head back to the shack and pay to go at it again. In similar fashion if they hit the eye-bats the robot would freeze for a minute allowing them to distance themselves from it.

Dipper, Ford, Stan, Wendy, Soos and surprisingly Pacifica, McGucket, Gideon (with his prison friends) and  Robbie (with Tambry) would be spread out in the woods.

 Pacifica had been talking to Dipper frequently since he had helped her with the ghost problem and even more after Weirdmageddon. So when Dipper mentioned his Summerween plans Pacifica had been quick to tell her parents she was going despite their protests. Since the families fall Pacifica had been able to be herself much more although her parents were scrambling to get back to their fame once more.

McGucket had come around to check on Ford and the two had created all the robots for the night. With the two of them working together it was an easy and quick build to make everything. The old man had long since had his memories returned and was living a much better life now that Tate and his raccoon wife had moved into the mansion with him.

Gideon while odd didn’t really surprise anyone that much, although Mabel made sure he would be stationed on the opposite end of the woods from her. He had been trying after the end of Weirdmageddon to be ‘a normal kid’ as he had put it and had actually been doing a pretty good job. Even with his prison body guards by his side full time.

Robbie didn’t really care although Mabel had overheard him telling Tambry he was glad they had something not stupid to do on Summerween. Lee, Nate and Thompson had even come along to help get everything set up; they had been tasked with making sure no one wandered off too far into the woods.

To complete the task, and win an ‘I survived Weirdmageddon’ shirt Stan had mass printed and candy, they would have to find each member of the zodiac. They would stamp their signal into their place on the wheel and give helpful hints on which way to go. Whomever added the last stamp would send them off in the direction of Mabel. If they made it to her and held up a finished zodiac she would throw candy at them in her death before drawing a top hat on the card allowing them to pick up a shirt back and the shack from Melody. 

The zodiac of course would not have the Shooting Star. Ford had made it very clear that Bill’s image would appear on none of the zodiacs and that because Mabel was playing the part of Bill her symbol would be missing from the wheel.

They all agreed it would be for the best, they didn’t want hundreds of correct zodiacs floating around Gravity Falls. Someone would be bound to try to summon the triangle and no one wanted that to happen, or to see what would happen if someone tried to do it.

Staring at herself in the mirror she couldn’t help but laugh. She had knitted the sweater to be her Summerween costume. The yellow sweater was larger than her normal sweaters hanging just above her knees. Said sweater had brick patterns completely encircling the bottom half, a large bowtie sitting just under the fold of her turtleneck.

She had changed to black yarn at the shoulders to resemble his black arms, bright blue yarn started mid-forearm to the end of the sleeves to represent his flames. Black leggings and shoes paired with a slender cane and overly tall top hat completed the ensemble.

Giggling she skipped out of the room and downstairs into the living room smiling at the collection of people in the room.

She had made everyone new sweaters; it was easy she could crank out three complete sweaters a day now. Each had a sweater with their respective zodiac symbol, she had even made Melody a sweater with a music note in the middle.

Dipper’s was white with blue sleeves, the same blue making up the pine tree symbol in the middle. Ford’s and Stan’s were the same color maroon with a six-fingered hand and the crescent shaped pac-man mouth respectively.

Even though you couldn’t see if with his beard in the way McGucket wore a white sweater with his glasses on the front. He had made sure to express to Mabel how nice it was she had knitted him a sweater and she had promised to make him more.

Soos’ was the dark green of his staff shirt with his question mark and Wendy’s was white with her bag of ice. Per Wendy’s request it was sleeveless so she could wear her flannel over. Much to Mabel’s surprise Pacifica had shown up in the same llama sweater she had been given during weirdmageddon.

Tambry wore a dark purple sweater with an old rotary phone on the front. Robbie wore his hoodie, he had refused to wear a sweater but Mabel wouldn’t complain, she had seen him stuff it away in his bag. 

Ghost Eyes sweater was the same teal as his headband with the oboros snake on the front. Killbone's was navy blue with a knifed heart. While they acted tough Mabel could see the tears in their eyes when they put them on. With a throwback to Lil' Gideon his sweater was baby blue his star multicolored on the front. She had to have Dipper help her get away after Gideon took the gift the wrong way.

Nate, Thompson and Lee’s sweaters matched their normal shirts. Nate’s was black with a skull, Lee’s was red with his orange thumbs up and Thompson’s was green with a large white bunny. Of course the teens had picked on Thompson due to his sweater but Mabel quickly pointed out on the polo he wore there was a rabbit.

Now all they had to do was finish placing the Summerween decorations. Besides making sweaters Mabel had been in charge of making wax ‘stone’ statues of all the townsfolk. It had been nice to make wax figures again, although she and Dipper had stood guard the first night she had completed some armed with Ford’s flamethrowers just to make sure they didn’t come to life.

They spent the day setting up the statues throughout the forest and releasing the eye-bats Ford had made. Each person had a bracelet that the eye-bat would recognize and orient itself to making it harder to get close to completing the zodiac.

She had set herself up a throne and made sure it was on the way to where Bill actually was. She had asked for this and had played it off as the desire to be way from the gnomes and no one bothered to question her. She really just wanted to make sure the people wandering the woods wouldn’t go too deep and find Bill’s statue. She needed to protect him.

“Hey Mabes.” She turned on her heel to face him, a large grin splitting her lips as she spun her cane. “Well y’ellow Pine Tree!” Dipper dropped the bag of snacks he was holding and took a step back. “Oh sorry Dip-dop I was just practicing for tonight…” Bending down she picked the bag up and stashed it next to the throne she had crafted to look like his people throne.

“Heh, you’re doing a good job. It’s gonna scare the heck outta people.” She grinned before tapping her brother on his shoulder with her cane. “Thanks bro-bro!” The two laughed for a moment before she flopped on the throne sideways her legs hanging over one of the arms.

“I think tonight’s gonna be super fun! Oh Wait!” She twisted around leaning over the arm of the chair to dig in her backpack. Pulling her camera from within she stood next to her brother snapping a picture of the two of them together. “Scrapbookortunity!” The camera whirred before spitting out the photo for her to grab waving in the air for a moment to develop it.

Staring back from the square was a good memory for her to add to her scrapbook and she slid it and the camera back in her bag. She needed to get better at taking photos; she hadn’t taken a lot this summer although she still had plenty of time to take them.

Dipper shoved her over moving to sit with her in the throne and the two stared out into the forest watching the fairy lights drift around as the sun began it’s decent. Pulling the hat from her head Mabel leaned her head against her brother’s shoulder, his arm wrapping around her shoulders as they sat in silence.

She was glad they had made up earlier; it was weird not having her brother around. He was her other half! Her Mystery Twin! Her Lamby Lamby! For Dipper she was his other half, his Myster Twin for goodness sake she was a congresswoman!

They sat in silence just enjoying being with each other for a while until it started to get a bit darker. With that he left her with an awkward sibling hug to go position himself in the woods for the night and she positioned herself to lounge on the chair surrounded by wax statues, eye-bats and Stan’s idea of wax henchmaniacs.

As the sun finally sunk and darkness crept over the area the lights they had planted flickered to life casting an eerie glow in the woods. The screams of joy began to fill the air and Mabel was ready for the night.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ah! Thank you everyone for your support!  
> I get so excited when I read your reviews or see that someone's left kudos! You are all so kind ♥  
> I'll try to write Summerween Eve as quickly as possible so you all get to see it put together!  
> There might be a small surprise♪ I'll have to run it by my lovely sounding board.  
> A big shoutout to my lovely sounding board speaking of!  
> Mamawaffles thank you for helping me solidify what they would actually be doing for Summerween!


	7. Twins

Mabel groaned. How long was it going to be until someone actually came to see her? She could hear the screams and laughter booming through the forest and honestly it was nice to hear. It was nice knowing people were having fun and it was in something she had helped create.

She loved Halloween, for as long as she could remember she made Dipper and her's costumes and while she was sad they wouldn't be able to trick or treat anymore she was glad they had found something else to do.  Gravity Falls seemed to love the holiday just as much as she did, why else would they have two? Maybe she should just move here and open her studio here. 

Shooting her grappling hook into the air again she watched as it launched itself into the shadows, finding no purchase in the leaves it plummeted back towards her to catch. She had only smacked her face once tonight so she considered it a win. 

She should have brought yarn, something to knit while she waited, or maybe she shouldn't have offered to be Bill; an eye-bat would have been exciting to be. Shaking her head she smiled watching the hook sail upwards once more. Naw, Bill was fun to be and she'd probably wear the sweater again anyway. It was fun to see how jumpy Grunkle Ford got when she popped up looking like this. 

Snapping up she looked down the path where she had heard the voices. It was dimly lit and the wax henchmaniacs made it hard to see very far but she could have sworn she heard someone. Had someone actually managed to beat her Grunkle's game? Tossing her grappling hook over the chair arm and into her backpack she arranged herself.

Fingers fiddling with the sleeves on her sweater they found the small switch she had placed inside and clicked it. Brilliant blue LED light surrounded the blue yarn on her arms. It had been her favorite feature to add and something she remembered so vividly capturing her attention when Bill had caught his own arm on fire the first time.

She briefly wondered if the flames hurt his arm. She had never really pondered that fact as she had really only seen them during weirdmageddon and she hadn't really been focused on if it hurt him when he was trying to kill her family. No, not her family, he personally hadn't hurt anyone before. Sure his henchmaniacs did but he only froze people in stone or in her grunkle's case gold but... he _was_ going to kill _her_.

She exhaled shaking her head a few times to shake out the thoughts as the voices brought her back to reality. With her back against one of the arms rests and her legs draped over the other she gripped her cane as excitement coursed through her. Ignore those wack thoughts Mabel, lets scare some kids!

She watched as a lone figure moved into sight, dipping in between the henchmaniacs slowly and in her excitement ignored the fact that there had been two voices.

_Oh boy here we go!_

She let a grin steal her features as she shifted to stand, twirling her cane in her hand. She had to remember to be intimidating! Not friendly! "Oh ho? What do we have here? You think you can save the town pipsqueak?"

She eyed the boy as he froze in spot, he couldn't have been older then 8 or 9 had he really cleared this on his own? He moved past the wax Teeth shuddering at the legs that dangled from inside the giant mouth. Oh boy she was proud of that one. 

"B-bill?" Mabel moved from her throne to stand before him bending at her waist to place her face at his level. If her brother had told her anything it was that he hated when she got so close to his face. "Yeah? That's my name don't wear it out."

Ripping the stamp list from his pocket Mabel fought to keep the smile on her face as she straightened up and away from his outstretched arm. This poor kid, he had only completed half the wheel he was still missing the entire right side. She should at least let him go and finish the rest of it right....?

_What would Bill do? What would Bill do?_

She had to chant the question to force the grin on her face wider a rough cackling filling the quiet area. "It's only half done!" Straightening herself out she gripped at her stomach fighting out the words between her wild laughter. 

_Bill would lose it, he'd find this hilarious. He wouldn't give anyone a second chance._

"You lose!" Placing her cane end in the center of his chest her finger moved towards the button on the side that would send out a 'shot' similar to the eye-bats beam. She had to live up to what her Grunkle expected of her, be scary tonight!

"That's what you think!"

_What an ugly feeling._

Mabel had never felt this way before, she was sure she would remember if she had. The dread crept up from her stomach wrapping it's cold tendrils around her heart she felt it pull and her heart sunk to her stomach. The anger, oh the anger set her skin ablaze. It heated her face and burnt her brain so bad she could barely think.

What was this? The fear of ambush? The fear of losing? Was it even fear that spotted her vision and caused the dread in her gut to spiral. She could tell the anger of being caught of guard boiled her insides and made her want to vomit. 

She clenched her teeth sucking in air through her closed jaw, her lips curled into an ugly snarl at the sight. This wasn't something she was used too, she didn't understand where they were coming from. Especially not with the sight in front of her.

Bursting from behind Pyronica, a spitting image of the boy in front of her ran forward. His hand clutched the other half of the zodiac waving it about as he moved to join his brother and complete their task. As he thrust the paper forward her vision went completely black and her rage exploded.

**Twins? Why is it always twins!**

Thoughts that weren't her own swam in her head, her mouth opened and a wailing scream tore out. Both boys lunged forward again not understanding the concept and under the impression they were winning.

**They don't deserve this win!**

_Mabel calm down!_

**I don't deserve this defeat!**

_It's a game!_

She clutched the cane to her chest her hands slick with sweat as she stumbled backwards. Heaving a breath she stopped her screaming as her knees caught on her throne and she toppled into the seat. Staring wide eyed and confused she watched as the boys high-fived. 

She could tell that they were talking, their voices were loud and carefree and she hated it. She stayed quiet as they moved forward, jamming both their stamp sheets into her lap and forcing her to stare at the zodiac before her. 

**How had they won?**

_It doesn't matter!_

**How had they gotten all the stamps?**

_They outsmarted the gang! Impressive!_

**And by passed all the eye-bats?**

_Twin power does it again!_

Pulling her pen from inside her sweater sleeves she pushed both halves together and with a shaky hand drew Bill's eye large and predominate in the middle of both halves. They would have to turn both halves in to complete the eye just as they used both halves to beat her.

Motioning for them to turn around she punched in the code on the back of the harness illuminating both boys in the green glow the jackets gave when they were switched off. They would now be able to make it back to the shack without the fear of the eye-bats. 

Thanking her they took their papers and weaved their way out of her area and down the path she had pointed to that would take them straight to the shack.

Her hands moved back to the cane gripping the metal as tightly as she could. It was still hard to see with the black splotches in her vision but she could thankfully feel her anger starting to subside now that the twins weren't in front of her any more. 

She was horribly confused on top of everything now. She didn't know why she was so upset! She should have been thrilled to see two kids complete her Grunkle's game. She should have screamed in joy when she saw they were twins. Her and Dipper would have been able to accomplish it, twins did work better together.

So why was she so angry? Why had she felt like she was really going to disappear when she saw the second half of the zodiac waving in front of her? Why was she fighting with herself internally the whole time? Was there a dark Mabel in her brain now?

Shaking her head she released the cane and swung around pulling a bag of chips from inside her bag. No she was just hungry not evil or crazy. Well she was crazy but not poo-brain crazy. She had been out here for most the night and had jumped when she heard the twins. This was natural, she was just hungry. She needed to eat and refuel herself before someone else arrived. 

She knew she wasn't evil either, no matter what Celestabellebethabelle had said her heart was P-U-R-E. Hungry! She was just a hungry, hungry hippo!

Piling chips in her mouth she glanced upwards the faintest hint of a shooting star catching her attention and she cried out spitting chips all over the ground. "H-Hey!" Leaping to her feet and standing on the seat of the chair she peered up into the darkness of the leaves catching only a glimmer of the now still night sky.

That was right. She was Shooting Star wasn't she? From what she could vaguely remember her teacher had said something about stars burning a lot of energy to stay so bright. She had to stay bright so she must have to burn a lot of energy! She could refill her energy with food! That must be why she gets so cranky when she's hungry! It all made sense!

"Ta-da! Science to the rescue! I just need more food!" Twisting back to a sitting position she grabbed a sandwich from her bag and shoveled the food down barely pausing to breath in between. Brushing the crumbs from her lap she patted herself on the back.

"Grunkle Ford woulda been so impressed by all that science-y talk! Maybe I'll tell him tomorrow!" Smiling she positioned herself correctly to lounge in the chair. Happiness was the only emotion she felt now and slowly the feelings she had felt before were being wiped from her mind. She couldn't believe she had thought she had an evil self, she was so silly sometimes. 

**_Such a Silly Shooting Star._ **


	8. It was going to be her

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The P.O.V for this chapter towards the end flows back and forth between Mabel and Ford.   
> I hope it's not confusing for anyone!

Her hands hurt. She couldn’t remember how long she had been here in front of Bill’s statue. How long she had been beating her fists against his face/body/eye? How long had she been crying? Screaming at the statue?

The morning had been slow; Summerween had left a few days ago, lost to the haze of the summer heat. Stan had decided he would be doing the fair later in the summer this year instead of earlier. Something about profits of drinks would be higher or something like that.

Despite trying to pinch every penny he could her grunkle couldn’t make himself have Dipper and Mabel work the fair so he had shooed them out of the house to enjoy the summer.

Dipper had already planned to meet Pacifica later that afternoon and after some good humored teasing Mabel disappeared down her familiar path.

It was nice to see Pacifica acting more human like, she hoped her and Dipper had a good time today with whatever they were doing.

Maybe she should give Gideon another chance? Shuddering she shook her head banishing the thought from her head. Nope, no way, she wasn’t ready to face him yet. Summerween had been a big enough hurdle.

Her feet had betrayed her, brought her back to her haunt while her mind had wandered. She wasn’t quite sure she wanted to see the statue so soon but her body had other plans.

So that was how she found herself screaming at the rock. The minute she saw him she had broken down, crumpling to her knees in front of him. Her resolve had shattered and she sobbed at the thoughts blooming in her mind. She sobbed at the anger bubbling her guts and the sadness fogging her brain. 

She said nothing as she pounded her fists against Bill’s body. Her cries loud enough that if any wild life had decided to come by they would quickly disappear. She had so much to say, so much she wanted answers to but he would never reply.

She couldn't tell how long she sat there beating the stone. How long she had sat there crying. She could tell how tired she was growing from her cries, and she knew she had been here long enough to slice the skin on the outside of her fists where she had hit the rock. 

Her arms finally lost their strength and the pounding came to a stop as she slumped backwards and away from the stone. Slowing her tears she pushed the words out between sniffles.

“Y-You…You were going to _kill_ me!”

She could still remember it so vividly. She and her brother trapped in his grip, his large hand crushing the two of them just enough to immobilize them without actually doing damage.  

His pupil disappearing as the younger twins' symbols began to flash in its place. Large and red the symbols cast an eerie light on the twins as he decided on which one would die in a similar style to how she decided on which sweater to wear for the day.  

Then it was hers, the large shooting star no longer a cheery symbol as it froze with his voice booming towards the twins. She could still remember her grunkle screaming at Bill as he raised his hand, his fingers milliseconds away from blasting her out of existence.

Why had she talked to him that first day? Why had she allowed herself to feel comfort in him? She should have turned and ran at the sight of Bill. She should have gone and found her family and told them of her find, they could have destroyed the effigy together. 

“You were going to kill me…” Her voice fell to a whisper and she stared at her hands no longer wanting to stare into his unblinking eye. How had she ended up here? She should just forget about the statue, she should just leave…

Standing to her feet she spun around before running as fast as she could back towards the shack. She prayed that Dipper wasn’t back yet; she didn’t want to explain why she was so upset.

She _was_ thankful to see Stan on the back porch, spread out on the couch holding a Pitt Cola in his hand; though through blurred vision she failed to see Ford in the doorway to the shack watching her.

The tears started again as she neared the stairs and the wailing followed shortly after. Why had she ever gone into the woods? She should just come clean and tell her family, but they would hate her. After everything Bill had done how could they understand…?

She knew Stan wouldn’t pry into why she was crying, he had seen her cry a dozen times over failed summer romances and she hoped that was what he pegged this on. So she dove into his lap her hands diving to wrap around her grunkle’s neck her face burying itself into his tank top.

“Pumpkin!? What’s wrong?” Stan had dropped his Pitt Cola can wrapping his arms around Mabel as she fidgeted to curl up the best she could in his hold. Answering only with another wail Stan shot a worried look at his brother who shifted uncomfortably in the doorway.

Ford wasn’t good around crying children, hell he wasn’t good around children period. The only reason was able to speak so freely around Dipper was the boy’s smarts. Dipper reminded Ford so much of himself at a younger age he never really saw him as a child. If he applied himself Ford could see Dipper raising to fame with his scientific discoveries.

Mabel though? If he was completely honest…Mabel terrified him. There was a huge part of her that reminded him of Stan when his brother was younger. She was reckless and loyal almost to a disadvantage. She loved her brother and would take up arms to defend her family.  The other part...was....well...

He had watched the young girl blast herself in the eye with spray paint only to laugh it off and assure him and Dipper that it had only stung a little. He then watched the same girl blast Bill in the eye with spray paint and claim that she knew how much it hurt as the dream demon screamed in pain.

She was wild and reckless; if it was fun she would try it. She had no boundaries when it came to other people and would happily force her way into any conversation or situation.

Dipper had told Ford about the time Bill had taken over his body, and although Ford had refused to write Mabel’s name for her brother in his journal, a chilling thought had occurred during the story time.

What if Bill had taken over Mabel instead? If he had tricked Mabel into allowing the use of her own body…It was apparent after all the time Ford spent observing Mabel that she didn't register pain as a normal person should. She either found the pain hilarious or didn't realize she got hurt. 

He stared at the crying girl in his brother’s arms and swallowed thickly as fear crept down his neck. If Bill had taken over Mabel’s body he would have succeeded in any goal he had attempted.

She wouldn’t have registered the fatigue Dipper’s body had felt, and according to Dipper she had no physical weakness that would have taken her down like her brother’s tickling. Dipper won fights with Mabel mentally but if it was Bill instead? Dipper wouldn’t stand a chance in outsmarting him.

“Uh Poindexter…a little help?” Straightening up Ford snapped his attention to his brother. Stan motioned towards the other half of the couch and Ford could do nothing but shuffle over and awkwardly sit next to his brother.

Mabel had stopped wailing at least and while he couldn’t see her face he could hear her sniffling. Not really knowing what his brother wanted him to do he reached out he placing a hand on her back and patted her as gently as he could.

“Uh..there there?” Stan’s face was far from amused at his attempt but Mabel didn’t mind. Happy to receive the attention from him she shifted her head blinking watery eyes towards her grunkle.

“H-He…” She sniffled and Ford had to keep from rolling his eyes, so it was another failed summer romance. Stan shifted allowing Mabel’s hands to latch on to her other grunkle’s trench coat. Tensing underneath her grip Ford held his breath as he stared at the puffy eyed child. 

“He was gonna _kill_ me!” Both older men froze as she launched forward wrapping her arms around Ford’s neck and sobbing into his turtleneck. Her wailing picked up again and the men could only mouth questions at each other.

“Mabel, pumpkin…You tell your Great Uncle who and I’ll make sure he’s eating his meals through a straw.”

Stan was on his feet now rooting under the cushion he was just sitting on before pulling out his brass knuckles and sliding them on his hands. Who ever made his little girl cry was going to need more then a straw once he was done with him. 

They watched as she shook her head the best she could from her curled position, falling silent they both watched her anxiously. Adjusting his arms to wrap around Mabel Ford held her as gently as she could worried that he would wind up hurting her if he held to hard.

“B-Bill!”

Stan’s hands dropped and relaxed in shock the knuckles sliding off his hands and clattering to the porch. Lowering himself back onto the couch he stared at Mabel in shock, this was not a failed summer romance.

It was Ford’s turn to do the unexpected as his arms moved to tighten their grip around his grand-niece squeezing her as tightly as he deemed appropriate to let her know that she was safe now. Bill couldn't hurt her. 

Dipper had mentioned nightmares hadn’t he? It was one of the first days the twins had arrived, yet he had been so damn eager to show his nephew what he and his brother had found he didn’t see the signs. He hadn't registered her disappearing for long stretches of time. Keeping to herself and disengaging from family. It was everything he had done when he had been with Bill. He was thankful she wasn't worshiping him like he had done, she was only having nightmares, he could fix that right? 

Cursing himself he remembered the hesitation she had at first when she had offered to play Bill. Had he really been that blind? Sure she had offered the part but it was probably to keep her brother or someone else from taking the position and Stan had come up with the idea. Knowing Mabel she would suck up her own fears to make sure her grunkle's plan went through so he wouldn't have had to change it. 

She had kept her nightmares to herself after the first night, sure if he was upstairs he could hear her shouts but Dipper didn’t seem to care, why should he? Dipper had never mentioned what her dreams were about, let alone the fact that Bill was involved. Did he even know the extent of her dreams?

Here was his grand-niece suffering with the fact that Bill was going to kill her; he was going to kill her as Bill had put it, ‘Just for the heck of it.' She was suffering and both he and his brother had been blind to it.  

How had he been so blind?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ah lovelies I'm so sorry I made you all wait for updates!  
> Moving really takes a lot of time!  
> Please enjoy another chapter and a big thank you to Veronicaspagnu!  
> I'm so sorry I made you wait so long I hope you liked this chapter as well!


	9. A Lovecraftian Nightmare

She wished she would have just kept her mouth shut. It had been three days since she had broken down in front of her Grunkles and they had yet to leave her alone.

Stan made sure to wake her each morning as gently as he could, holding a glass of Mabeljuice at the ready for the tired girl.

Surprisingly her nightmares hadn’t returned but she wouldn’t hold her breath, they would be back. They always came back.

Ford’s help was much more subtle. He would pause what he was doing when she entered the room and simply smile at her before resuming whatever he had been working on.

Although some days when Dipper was busy he would follow Mabel around, sometimes he would speak and other times he would stay silent.

He had told Dipper when the boy returned home and was pleased that Dipper simply hugged Mabel as tight as he could. It was nice to see all the Pines twins bonds remained strong.

She was happy her family was so cheerful around her but...it was off. This wasn’t how her family was supposed to act. She was at least thankful no one had told Soos or Melody, they still treated her the same.

Leaving the house had proved impossible, no matter where she went one of her family members would find her and continuously check in on her throughout the day.

She was going crazy.

Slamming the bathroom door shut she gripped fistfuls of hair and pulled, the pain against her skull bringing her back to reality. She was okay; this would go away after a few more days. She just had to stay cheery.

She paced the small room before popping herself up to sit on the lip of the bathtub. They hadn’t said anything yet but she could hear someone on the other side of the door.

The old shack floor creaked as they shifted trying to listen to what she was doing inside. Probably Ford with his silence, Stan would normally talk to her by now and Dipper was out again.

Her eyes landed on the small window to her right and her lips curled into a smile. She wasn’t gonna be cooped up anymore. Turning around she began to hum loudly before turning the knob on the tub.

Water exploded from the faucet and she leaned in pulling the stopper out so it wouldn’t flood the bathroom. It would be loud enough to cover her escape and buy her a little time.

Creeping as quietly as she could to the box Stan kept his soap on she crawled on top. Her hands caught the lip of the window and she heaved herself up with a small grunt.

Fingernails scraping into the wood she pulled herself all the way to the window and toppled out onto the roof with a loud bang.

“Mabel!?”

Scrambling against the roof tiles she stuck her head back in the window laughing loudly. “Ah haha! I’m alright Grunkle Ford! Just uh, I just got my head stuck in my sweater and I knocked over the trash can pulling it off!”

Silence hung thickly in the hair before she heard him mutter something and the floor creaked as he settled against the wall. Wiping her brow she slipped back from the window and back on to the roof.

Finding herself placed on the small overhang on the back porch she moved as quietly as she could, unsure if Stan was on the couch like he normally was later in the afternoon hours.

When silence filled the area she cautiously peeked her head over the side sighing in relief when she saw the back porch was empty.

Knowing it wouldn’t stay empty for long she scrambled to the end her hands gripping the wood supports as she climbed down the beams the old wood shredding her hands.

Ignoring her splinter filled hands she spun around and ran as fast as her legs could carry her into the woods. She didn’t care where she was going as long as it was away from the house and away from Bill.

After running far enough where she could no longer see the shack and the sun was starting to lower in the sky she slowed her pace to a leisurely walk her attention focusing on her hands as she walked.

“Ugh and I don’t have tweezers with me….”

Frowning she pulled out the larger slivers and using her nails began to dig into her hands for the smaller pieces. It wasn’t that the splinters hurt per say, they were just really, really annoying.

She stayed like that for a while, ripping the skin of her palms for the small wood slivers buried beneath as she walked aimlessly further into the woods.

She really didn’t care to pay attention to where she was going; she had mapped these woods with her brother the prior year. Even if she got lost she could find her way back to the shack easily enough.

The snapping of twigs not under her own feet caused her to raise her head in alarm. She could still hear animals and insects; it wasn’t quiet like when she was around Bill.

Frowning she twisted her head about trying to find the source of what was making the noise.

Twisting her head in confusion she watched as something moved out of the woods towards her, she couldn’t see it very well in the fading light but it looked humanoid.

“Uh, Hi! I’m Mabel! Who are youuuu…..”

She froze at the sight in front of her, her voice trailing away as her brain reeled to comprehend. She could feel her cheeks burning a brilliant red as embarrassment flooded her.

For some odd reason Mabel couldn’t look away from what was coming towards her.

A rather naked and rather oddly colored woman was walking towards her. Her skin reminded her of the color of a muddy lake, blues, greens, blacks and browns swirled over her body in a symphony of color.  

Pieces of her body looked rotten and Mabel could smell the decay now that the woman was getting closer. She could see the blackened flesh that hung from the bone and it took everything she had not to vomit.

Her hair hung in dripping dreadlocks covering her face from prying eyes, a mix of the same color splaying across her locks. As the woman moved her hair swung in an almost hypnotic manner.

Mabel watched in horror as slimy hands moved to the woman’s hair, parting it just enough for her to see the woman’s mouth. She was much too close now and Mabel still couldn’t move.

Rotting and decayed the woman’s mouth hung in chunks instead of a solid jaw and as the woman opened her mouth black goo poured out squelching as it splattered across the grass.  

Fear pierced her heart and Mabel turned sprinting forward as fast as her legs could go.

Her chest burnt as she heaved air in, she could still hear the woman wailing behind her. It was a choked wail and Mabel could only imagine the goo spilling from her mouth every time she cried out.

Twice now she had felt the woman’s hand grab her hair and a new burst of energy would propel her forward. She didn’t know how much longer she could run and she didn’t know where she was.

Her fear burnt her brain and her eyes stung from the wind hitting the tears staining her cheeks. She couldn’t figure out where she was like this and she had already tried screaming to no avail. Her throat was much too raw.

She snapped her head over her shoulder as she veered to the left, no! She knew where she was now! She knew this part of the woods! The soft purple glow! The small fairy lights that-

She was ripped backwards and onto her back as the woman finally found purchase in Mabel’s hair. A choked sob echoed in the area as the wind was forced from her lungs and black spotted Mabel’s vision.

**Looks like quite the problem ya got there Star.**

Mabel dug her nails into the woman’s hand as it found her face, rotting fingers squeezing the sides of her cheeks hard enough to force her mouth open.

**Ya know, I could save you…**

She didn’t understand what was going on. Was this the woman talking to her? It didn’t sound like the low pitched wails coming from the woman’s mouth. It sounded like…

The woman forced Mabel’s head to the side as black vomit splashed across her chest and stomach. Thick goo spread across her body and she let out a broken wail as it began to burn her skin.

_This is it Mabel..._

She felt the woman shift again as another round of goo covered her thighs, with no clothing to protect her from the blast the pain doubled and another scream filled the woods.

**I just want inside your mind.**

_Fine fine! Just save me! I don't wanna die!_

She could hear cackling and her vision finally cleared enough for her to pull Bill’s statue into view.

**All you have to do is shake my hand Shooting Star and we got a deal.**

Mabel could feel the blood drain from her face as she realized just who she was talking too. How had Bill survived and why did he want to make a deal with her?

More goo splashed across her body and Mabel could feel her legs growing numb. She had no choice, she either died at the hands of whatever the hell this was or she shook Bills hand.

_You just want into my mind? No body puppet stuff?_

**Nope. As fun as that would be I just want inside your mind. You let me do that and I’ll keep you nice and safe.**

Screaming Mabel’s hands moved from the woman’s wrist up to her jaw. Shoving her fingers in the woman’s mouth she ripped downwards pulling the rotten jaw straight off the woman’s face. She was not going to die. 

A deafening howl echoed through the area as she reeled backwards, goo flowed freely from her mouth as she thrashed from side to side splattering more across Mabel’s body and face.

Flipping on to her stomach Mabel dug her nails into the grass raking the ground as she pulled her self away from the woman and towards Bill. She had to get to him, she had to shake his hand. 

_You’ll keep me safe._

She could hear his laughter echoing around her but she was growing too dizzy to tell if it was in or out of her mind. He had been her friend when she had none. He had listened to her worries and her fears. If he wanted in her mind she would let him. She had nothing left to hide from him anyway.

She felt the woman’s hand grab her ankle and drag her backwards and she slammed her fingers into the dirt locking herself in place. She was not going to die and if she did she sure as hell would go down fighting!

Howling the woman crawled upwards and Mabel fought against her weight to keep moving towards Bill. She was almost there! She could feel the woman's fingers digging into her back now as she all but lay on top of Mabel. 

Moving the last few inches she stretched her hand up towards his outstretched one and in her haze she could have sworn she saw a hint of blue in the stone.

She latched her hand onto Bill’s wrist as the woman covered her face in goo the black material had all but burnt through her clothes. She could tell the skin on her legs was burning off and with every movement she made she knew she lost more.

She closed her hand around Bill’s hand  and as her consciousness faded her she was able to spit out between mouthfuls of burning goo.

_“It’s a deal.”_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ♥So♥Much♥Love♥  
> Thank you everyone for supporting this story  
> I never expected so many people to like it!  
> I hope everyone enjoys this chapter and please!  
> Feel free to comment and I'll reply!


	10. What Happened?

Mabel shot up from bed, her body slick with sweat and uncomfortably allowing her hair and clothes to stick to her body. How long had she been asleep? How had she gotten back home?

Ripping the blankets from her body she stared at her legs confusion nearly knocking her back. Her legs were just fine; there was no indication that she had fought the monster.

 “Mabes? You okay?”

She watched as Dipper rolled over and clicked the lantern allowing the soft flame to flicker light through the small room.

Nodding to her brother she lowered her gaze to her hands. Her throat tightened as chills tore through her body. Her legs had been unmarked from the goo that tore her skin off but large marks still scattered her palms from the splinters. What had happened?

“Uh…Mabel…why are you wearing _that_?”

Moving her attention from her hands up her arms and to her chest Mabel felt her heart drop. Why was she wearing this stupid sweater?

“I uh, I got super cold! Ahaha yeah! So this is the biggest sweater I own…” Jumping to her feet she ignored the fact that it was still dark outside and moved to her closet pulling out a fresh sweater/skirt combo to change into.

Skipping from the bedroom and leaving a not quite convinced Dipper behind, she slipped into the bathroom.

What had happened?! Apparently she hadn’t been gone long enough for anyone to notice and she wondered if somehow she had climbed back up the porch and into the bathroom to avoid alarm.

Shaking her head she quickly showered not allowing her thoughts to wander just yet. There was no use to guessing, she would go to Bill and see if he could still even talk to her. If he could talk then he’d answer her questions.

Scrubbing herself dry she slipped on a red skirt a white sweater covered in colorful polka dots quick to follow.  Squeezing as much water from her hair as possible she snapped a green headband on and shuffled out of the bathroom stopping only to throw her sweater in her closet before moving downstairs.

The shack was quiet, and thankfully now that Ford and Stan were in the basement it was a lot easier to sneak out. The creaks and groans of the floorboards would have woken Stan up the second she stepped on the stairs.

Slipping into her shoes she ran out through the gift shop and into the woods to figure out the truth.

 

So it hadn’t been a dream? Mabel’s pace slowed to a walk as she neared the clearing Bill sat in. Burn marks littered the ground and trees marking where the woman had vomited.

So why was Mabel uninjured? Not that she minded but this was weird.

The grass in Bill’s clearing was dead and it crunched under her shoes as she walked into the area. Bill’s statue seemed unmarked but Mabel lowered herself to her knees in front of the statue allowing her hands to run over the stone anyway as a double check.

It still seemed solid, although…

She sat back on her ankles twisting her head up to look through the branches. Where those birds? Now that she focused on it she could hear all sorts of insects and birds waking up with the sun.

Glancing back towards Bill’s statue she cocked her head to the side. “Hey Cornchip, you in there?”

The forest responded with soft background noise as she waited for Bill to answer, the longer she waited though, the more frustrated she got.

“Hey! I know you’re there!”

**So what?**

She launched herself backwards and away from the statue, staring wide eyed at the stone in front of her. Nothing had changed about the rock but that was totally Bill’s voice she just heard.

**Oh come on Shooting Star! You didn’t come out here just to scream at a rock. Whadja want?**

She swallowed thickly trying to organize her thoughts into one coherent sentence. There were a lot of things she wanted, like a puppy or a cat but no-no Mabel, stay on track.

“I wanna know what happened last night!”

**Jeeze stop shouting will ya? I can hear you just fine.**

Embarrassment flooded her cheeks before she crossed her arms over her chest twisting her head away from the statue in a pout.   
_Stupid Bill_

Cackling filled the area and Mabel twisted her head about still trying to find the source.

**Did you _seriously_ forget I can read minds?**

Clenching her teeth Mabel stood from the ground moving forward and delivering sharp kick to the statues eye.

“Just tell me what happened!”

**Ooooh I love when you get bossy!**

She was glad her mouth was shut because as soon as his words ended she was spun violently and it took everything she had not to vomit. Clenching her eyes shut she felt her body hit the ground before the spinning finally stopped.

_Uuunnnn…what was that?_

Pushing herself up from the ground Mabel felt the blood drain from her face at the sight before her.

Hundreds of screens danced around her, each showing a different part of town from a bizarre angle. She frowned as she approached a few screens clustered together.

Static filled the majority of the screen but she could tell it was from the angle of the red window in the landing. The other seemed to be the floor of the gift shop…and were those her grunkles sleeping?

**Anywhere old Sixer drew my symbol opened up another window into your world.**

She didn’t want to turn around. She really, really didn’t want to see what was behind her. She could already tell she wasn’t going to like it but…well she was going to do it anyway.

Yep, she didn’t like it.

Bill hovered a few feet away from her, his cane spinning mindlessly in his hands as his pupil darted from screen to screen.

Apparently finding one he liked he drifted towards the screen, with a flick of his wrist Mabel felt herself pulling after him.

_What the…Stop this!_

She watched as red briefly filled his corners before bleeding back to his golden color and he stopped the screen now moving towards them instead. He moved before her growing slightly as he did so.

**Listen kid, I don’t have to tell you what happened. Not part of the deal, but since I’m feeling ever so generous I’m going to show you….if you shut up!**

Crossing her arms she fell silent her tongue snaking from her mouth to stick out towards the triangle. She watched as he threw his arms up before pushing the screen in front of her face.

That was her? She was crumpled at the foot of Bill’s statue but it wasn’t from the other night it, that sweater was what she was wearing now…

She watched as he twirled his wrist and the camera began to move backwards, time reversing itself as her body lifted moved a bit then backed out of the screen.

It jumped and she saw herself covered in goo and the woman as she clung to his hand, the entire image shook and she felt his hand rest itself on her shoulder.

**\----**

He couldn’t believe she had shaken his hand. What a fucking idiot. Was everyone in the Pines family this gullible? He would jus-

Shit.

He had been so damn desperate to get out of his prison he had given her protection. He had to keep _her_ safe.

_Shit_

Out of all the Pines’ he could have picked to protect why did he end up with the one the most like him? This girl was insane, he would seriously have his work cut out- oh fuck she was dying.

He could feel the vacuum pulling him out of the stone trap and into her mind and he immediately set her consciousness to the back allowing himself control over her body.

Human bodies still felt really weird. He had fun while he was inside Pine Trees but it had broken down so quickly on him although…Star’s seemed a bit more durable even after everything she had been- _fuck_ still dying.

He exploded his energy blue flames bursting from the skin of Mabel’s body and burning the goo away. His flames cracked forward whipping out to sting the woman still crawling on the girls back.

The woman lurched backwards and away from the flaming teen splurging more goo onto the grass. A shrieking wail filled the area and Bill forced Mabel’s arms to cross.

“ **Uh no, actually this one’s mine.”**

Raising Mabel’s hand he forced her fingers to snap and watched with pure amusement as the woman caught on fire. Her wails only made him laugh harder. What a stupid creature. She actually had the audacity to tell him that she had claimed Star first?

Shooting Star had been his since the first time she had seen him. Oh he knew all about the spying when Gideon had first summoned him, he knew that while she thought taking them from the deer was cruel she would have found a use for the deer teeth.

He would have to remember to bring her some…

He simply watched as the woman fell to the ground, screaming and writhing as she died. As she crumpled to the ground his flames spread from her body and stretched out burning the goo from existence.

He knew this type of creature; if any goo was left the woman would just sprout again and terrorize Mabel. Flicking his wrist he spread a small flame down the path, he could feel a bit of goo away from where they were.

Brushing hands over legs he pushed the flames off of Mabel, pleased that they had fixed her legs in the process. Oh boy he was going to regret using that much energy he wouldn’t really be able to do anything for a while.

**“You owe me big Star…”**

Her silent conscious bothered him if only because it meant he would have to get her back to the shack. Great, this was just great.

Wobbling forward a few steps Bill tried to remember how he had gotten Pine Tree’s body to cooperate before quickly realizing he hadn’t and forgot about the twin.

Star’s body was much more durable then Tree’s had been, she didn’t wobble as much when he moved but why the _fuck_ did she spew glitter?

Every time he moved the sparkling flakes would shed and he hated it. Sure it was exactly what he would have expected from Star but this was his body now and he wasn’t fond of exhuming glitter with every step.

He grinned as the shack pulled into view, with this body…he’d be able to learn everything he could about Sixer. Oh this was going to be a lot more fun, he could keep Star safe, especially if she started to learn under Sixer. Sixer wouldn’t let her in harm’s way so his job would be taken care of for him…

He stepped forward and felt the tug at his consciousness from Star’s body. What…What!? Rage flooded his body as he moved forward again the barrier around the shack flaring to life and pulling at the binds keeping him attached to this body.

**“Oh hell no.”**

He took a few steps back before launching himself forward and through the barrier.

It burnt, everything around him felt like it was on fire and it clouded his perfect vision. Sixer had done it again, making it near impossible for him to get in.

Nothing was ever impossible for Bill though, he just had to deal with this excruciating pain while he was in control.

Wobbling forward he watched as the girl’s hands pulled out from under him gripping to the support beam on the porch. He couldn’t feel that she was awake yet, and she sure as hell wasn’t talking so it wasn’t like she was aware.

Was her body just moving by itself? Or subconsciously moving since Bill was struggling to keep control over her with this stupid barrier trying to mute him?

He watched as she stretched up trying to climb on top of the roof. She wanted up there? He pulled her memories from deeper within her mind and quickly searched through them finding her exiting the shack the same way.

Oh.

Sixer was guarding the door was he? Well the last thing he wanted was to raise suspicion; if Sixer found him in this state it would be easy for the man to wipe him out again.

He was not going back to that prison and he wasn’t going to get caught.

Forcing himself to regain control through the fog the barrier created he launched upwards digging her nails into the wood and scrambling up onto the roof.

Haha how great, this activity left little wood pieces in her hands. He moved her hand to pull out a few of the shards of wood and laughed as he threw them away.

Crawling over the roof he found his way to the window and clambered inside knocking over the large crate in the process the loud noise rattling Ford who waited outside.

“Mabel, I’m coming in on the count of three”

Oh shit this wasn’t good. He had to find a way to keep Sixer from finding out he was here.

The room spun and Bill watched in rage as blue flames trickled in from under the door. There was no way, _no way._ This was not the mindscape, Star wouldn’t do this to hi-

He stopped that train of thought. He was not going to rely on this stupid human. Star could betray him just like everyone else in this family.

“Two.”

Fuck, he was really scatter brained today. Was it just because he was out of that damned prison finally?

“Three.”

Diving forward Bill launched the body into the tub, the water spewing from the spout drenching her body and clothes.

“Mabel!? What are you doing?” Bill kept her head low; he didn’t want to make eye contact with Sixer. He knew the girls eyes would reflect his own and Sixer would immediately know that Bill was inside.

He closed her eyes as Sixer shut off the water and wrapped Star’s body in a towel. Lifting her from the tub Bill listened as they moved from the bathroom and into the hallway.

His vision flickered with a static screen behind her closed eyes as they passed his window allowing him to see the sight.

He forgot how small Shooting Star actually was. Wrapped in a large towel she still fit comfortably in Sixer’s arms. Bill would have to make sure she grew taller; he wasn’t going to have a small vessel.

“Mabel…you need to change. You’re freezing.”

Bill kept himself from laughing, of course she would be cold, he was inside her after all. Still, as not to cause suspicion he moved her body towards her closet. Thankfully he knew Sixer would pass his awkward movements off as Shooting Star just being tired.

Pulling up on the soaked yarn Bill tipped forward and crashed into the closet. Biting hard on her lip he stifled the laughter threatening to burst out from the accident.

“Oh dear.”

He felt Sixer’s hands lift him up and make quick work of untangling him from the heavy material. Flashing a quick glance at the older Pine, Bill couldn’t help the grin that spread across his face. Sixer wasn’t even looking at him?

Tugging off whatever else the girl was wearing he threw the wet garments towards wear Sixer had set her sweater. Still the man didn’t turn around. Did he need new clothes? Fuck this wasn’t something he was good at….

Turning around his interest was captured by a large yellow blob in the corner of the closet. Stretching forward he grabbed the sweater and quickly threw it on. Yellow was always in fashion he at least knew that much.

“Oh, uh, alright…let’s get you into bed now.”

What was with Sixer and holding his Shooting Star? If this was something that happened frequently he didn’t know if he’d be able to keep his mouth shut.

He felt the man place her in bed before pulling a few blankets over her body. His hand hesitated for a moment before it ran through her hair and he turned moving away and out of the bedroom.

**“Finally…”**

Bill pulled his consciousness from Shooting Star’s forefront allowing her body to drop into the sleep her mind was already in.

At least he was no longer burning in her mind. The barrier couldn’t register that he was safely tucked back in here so his vision was crystal clear once more.

He leaned back before pulling his screens up in front of him and checking out the sights of Gravity Falls. What had changed while he was locked up?

\---

Mabel heaved in a breath as she turned to stare at the triangle currently more interested in another screen further down the line from her.

_Uhh…thanks I guess? For keeping Ford from getting more paranoid. Next time how about choosing a different sweater?_

Bill’s pupil darted her way only for a moment before back to the screen in front of him.

**Listen kid…just be glad I dressed you.**

A blush stained Mabel’s face as she reached the dream demon. Yeah he was right; he could have strolled past her grunkle and into the shack for all he cared.

_So uh…_

Bill waved his hand pausing whatever he was watching before fulling turning to face the girl.

**Spit it out.**

Mabel crossed her arms narrowing her eyes at him.

_And here I thought we could be friends._

Bill’s laughing was everywhere at once and it hurt not only her ears but her pride as well. He could have just turned her down; he didn’t have to laugh at her.

**Friends? Shooting Star….**

She moved to cut him off; she didn’t need to hear this. She didn’t need more rejection in her life.

**We’re partners now.**

The young girl almost fell over as she turned her attention fully towards Bill.

_W-What!?_

Bill shifted pulling his cane into his hand to hook the curved end around Mabel’s neck pulling her closer to him. When his eye was only a few inches away from her he brought his small hand forward to flick her in the forehead.

**Me and you? We’re going to rule the world.**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ♥ Hello Hello! ♥  
> I hope you enjoy this new update.  
> I don't know about you but I fell like Bill would swear a lot.  
> He has some anger issues....  
> Let me know what you think! ♥


	11. The Googlies

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alright Peaches ♥  
> Thank you for your patience!  
> Expect another one here in a few hours!

When Dipper awoke Mabel was already up working her knitting needles back and forth to make another sweater. It was comforting for him to wake up too; the soft clicking along with his sisters humming let him know she was still there.

“Hnn Mmm. Who’s the girl who’s so aight….Tucks us into bed at night…”

There was one thing Mabel remembered about Bill, he hated synthesized music. He apparently still did if the screaming echoing in her mind was any confirmation.

**STAR I’M GOING TO KILL YOU.**

Ignoring the screaming triangle she turned to look at Dipper when he fully sat up. “Oh hey Dip-Dop. You ready for today?”

Dipper launched out of bed before tugging his vest on, apparently he had fallen asleep in his shirt and shorts and typical to Dipper he wouldn’t shower after just having done so yesterday.

“Of course! We get to help Ford and Stan fill the journal!” Ripping his hat from the nightstand he slammed the lumberjack hat on his head adjusting his hair to cover his forehead.

It was a surprise for Dipper when he came back and found Wendy had another hat, she simply shrugged before saying that her old one looked good on him. 

Mabel set her knitting to the side; she’d finish it tonight when Bill was screaming at her again. It was a nice distraction from her brain mate.

Grabbing a red sweater she had embellished with the 6 fingered hand of her grunkle’s journals and a black skirt she quickly showered and tied her hair up before heading downstairs to join her family.

She could smell the stancakes from the stairwell and could have sworn her feet lifted off the ground as she drifted towards the kitchen. They smelt unusually good this morning, no doubt thanks to Soos and Melody actually buying real brands instead of the expired ones at the bottom of the bargain bin.

“Oh hey there pumpkin’.” Smiling Mabel collected the plate of pancakes her grunkle handed to her as she walked in and moved to sit at the table.

Smushing Dipper over in his chair she climbed up beside him across from Ford making sure to leave an open chair for Stan and began pulling the hair from her pancakes. 

“Make sure you two have everything you need for today. We might not make it back tonight.” Dipper nodding tapping the bags under the table with his feet, he had packed last night for himself and his sister.

He had to make sure he stayed ahead of the game, it was the best way to impress Ford. Dipper had even brought them down the night before after he was done packing them.

Much to Bill’s pleasure Mabel teased her brother over his eagerness and the two, well three with Bill, enjoyed a laugh.

“ ’ere are ‘ur ‘acks?” Mabel twisted her head before pointing at her grunkles with her fork.  Ford hesitated for a moment unsure of what his grandniece had said.

“All in Poindexter’s jacket don’t worry.” Stan pointed his spatula at his brother flicking pancake mix across the table. Cleaning the mix off himself and the table Ford shot his brother a look before turning back.

“Ah, yes.” Opening the jacket Mabel’s eyes widened scanning over the miscellaneous pockets filled with bizarre items she knew she’d have to play with later.

Watching as Stan sat down at the table the four began to eat and discuss what exactly they were hunting for and where in the woods it would be.

Pleased to see it was away from Bill’s statue Mabel let out a sigh of relief before focusing once more on her grunkles.

Once breakfast was done and the dishes had been cleaned the four piled out through the gift shop waving to Soos as he ended a tour and Melody as she manned the register.

“See you later dudes.” Moving out of the shack and into the woods they began their adventure.

====

They had walked for a few hours into the woods before Ford unfolded a map from one of his many pockets.

**If he’s so smart why does he need a map?**

Mabel snorted before slapping her hands over her mouth as her brother shot her a confused look.

_That’s not very nice!_

Bill’s silence responded back to her and she was thankful as her grunkles began walking again.

The creature they were looking for was apparently one that had eluded her grunkle back when he had lived here years ago.

With a few vauge questions Mabel had quenched her fear that he was looking for the goo woman and learned a few things about what they were hunting.

The first was that the creature lived in groups around a very large and very old tree. It wouldn’t be tall, that would make it too easy to spot but it would be large around the trunk of the tree.

The second was that the creatures, like the hide-behind, were incredibly hard to find and Ford had only seen them a few times. He had only stumbled upon the tree once or twice and could never remember where he had seen it.

Apparently this is what Dipper and Ford had been doing most of the time they were together. They were trying to figure out where this tree could be and what its inhabitants were.  

It had been Stan’s idea to get the four of them to go out actually, a half camping-half exploration trip.

**Sixer couldn’t find his glasses for two hours when they were on top of his head. How’s he expect to find the Googlies?**

“The Googlies?”

Ford froze turning around to point at Mabel, an exited grin spreading over his face.

“Yes! Mabel Yes! So you’ve seen them too!” Her grunkle had lowered himself to grip her shoulders and she laughed.

**Why does anyone like the things? The look so stupid!**

“Of course Grunkle Ford! I think they look super cool.” She could hear Bill groaning in the back of her head and her grunkle nodded.

“I’m so glad you agree Mabel! See Stan, they are real!” Mabel shrugged as both her brother and other grunkle turned to look at her before turning back to follow Ford.

 

_What do Googlies look like?_

**They look stupid.**

She rolled her eyes. That just meant they were super cool. Anything Bill hated she loved and anything she loved Bill hated. Or at least so far that was the truth.

Except parties, if they could agree on anything it was that they both loved to party; regardless the theme.

Of course they had decided they both liked the fun chaos brought, although they both had different ideas on what chaos to choose.

Reaching a fork in the road she watched as her grunkle spun around a few times before moving down the left path.

**Ooooh! Steeeeeee-rike! Sixer picked wrong today!**

_What do you mean?_

Cackling filled her brain with a threat of ‘you’ll see later’ and Mabel skipped forward to join her grunkle in the lead.

Extending her hand from her side she wrapped it around Stan’s and he smiled before tightening his grip on her own hand.

Both shared a smile before Stan rammed into the back of Ford forcing them both to stumble apart Mabel falling and catching herself on the ground.

“What’s your proble-” a six fingered hand slammed on top of his mouth silencing his grunts.

Dipper helped Mabel to her feet, one of his index fingers pressed to his lips to keep the girl silent. Once she had made it to her feet Dipper let go of her hand and pointed to where her grunkles were looking.

She could kind of make out a body, a rather large creature that she really didn’t want to see any closer up. Apparently her family thought the same thing because Ford was slowly moving his way backwards towards the children.

**Shooting Star listen carefully.**

She could barely hear him over the fear throbbing through her mind, said fear spiking at the seriousness of his tone.

The four Pines stood perfectly still, watching the looming figure as it shuffled about. Maybe it hadn’t seen them?

**That thing uses smell Star. It knows exactly where you are. It’s just deciding which one to eat first.**

She swallowed back the bile creeping up her throat as her hand palmed the grappling hook she always kept at her side.

**Don’t be stupid.**

It was completely silent before the creature took a large step in their direction and her high pitched wail filled the area.

**“RUN!”**

Forcing her body to move Bill spun in the opposite direction sprinting as fast as Mabel’s body would allow him to go.

If her family wasn’t around he would have simply killed the stupid beast but he was sure it would raise questions if Mabel snapped and blue flames killed the creature.

“Mabel! Stop!” Bill could hear the footsteps of her family as they chased the teens retreating form, he could also hear the thundering footsteps as the creature followed them.

**Oh great the stupid thing’s chasing you.**

_What!? Well do something!_

**Nah, just keep running. I’m tired.**

Mabel was thrust back into her body forcing her to stumble and nearly fall to the forest floor. She felt a strong grip on the hook of her backpack as her Grunkle Ford lifted her up and off the ground. Holding her tightly in his arms he lunged forward, Stan falling into place next to him death gripping Dipper in a similar fashion.

**Le~eft.**

“G-Grunkle Ford! Go left!” At this point Ford wasn’t going to question his niece, she had already run off on him once the last thing he needed was for her to start screaming or something if he didn’t listen.

It was a small path, one that he would have easily missed if Mabel hadn’t shouted at him to go in that direction. He wondered briefly if Mabel had been to this part of the woods before, how else would she know about the path?

They could hear the roars of the monster as it ran past them oblivious to the small path they had dipped into.

**Oh good, I didn’t think he’d be angry enough to keep running.**

Bill’s cackling filled her brain and her face turned a series of different reds. Oh she was so mad at him! What if he hadn’t been as mad huh? What would Bill have done then!?

“By the gods…Mabel you’ve done it!”

She pulled herself from her grumpy thoughts to look at the sight before them. A large redwood tree sat before them. It wasn’t very tall, not compared to the others that loomed around it, but it was definitely one of the fattest trees she’d seen. Scattered around the redwood were a handful of aspen trees and Mabel had to suppress a shudder, they made it look like Bill was watching them. 

It was the soft almost bell like giggling that made her look a little closer until her eyes widened completely in awe.

Covering the tree were small balls of fluff with the biggest eyes Mabel had ever seen. Slapping the sides of her face she inhaled rapidly trying to process the cuteness before her.

_How can you think these things look stupid!?_

“THEY’RE SO CUTE!”

Squirming in her grunkle’s grip he lowered her to the floor allowing her to creep closer as he pulled the journal from his jacket to begin documenting what he was seeing.

They seemed to float and reminded Mabel of the dandelions she’d make her wishes on just multiple pastel colors.

She could almost feel Bill rolling his eyes at her but she didn’t care. Lowering herself even further to the ground she all but crawled over to the trees watching them bounce around the trunk their eyes bouncing in the process.

Dipper lowered himself next to his grunkle, pulling his own journal from his vest he followed in Ford’s footsteps and began to document everything.

Dipper’s attention was mainly on his sister though, if there was anything he knew about Mabel it was that her unique way of thinking always showed him something new.

Stan was content with watching his niece, although he continued to look behind them in case whatever that creature was came back for seconds. He wasn’t one for the nerdy aspect of documenting but he did love adventure.

Mabel’s screech bounced a few of the fluffs away from her before they simply floated back down, the girl erupting in a series of giggles. This was the second best day of her lift! Right after winning Waddles of course!

The Googlies had decided to descend upon Mabel, their soft bodies tickling her face and bouncing them along her sweater. She could hear pens scribbling in the back and rolled her eyes.

“Come on Dipp-” She flailed while coughing before reaching into her mouth and pulling the googly that had wandered inside out. “Yuck!”

Laughing she pushed the googly away from her watching as it spun without a care into the wind.

"I think we'll camp here for tonight. It seems the googlies cast some sort of calming spell over this part of the forest." He waved his six fingered hand towards the top of the trees, he had obviously seen something the other hadn't. Or maybe he could just feel that sort of thing?

"We'll be safe through the night and be able to return to the shack in the morning." They all murmured their agreement with the plan. It wasn't that it was too late into the day but they knew if they started out now it would be too dark to find a safe camping spot and they didn't know if the creature was still roaming about.   
  
Setting up the area her grunkles moved to make sure everything was in place, they didn't have tents but all had sleeping bags and no fire was needed for once it got dark enough the googlies let off a soft glow, similar to fireflies. 

Mabel nuzzled her body deeper into her sleeping bag as she looked around the now darkening camp. She had spent the rest of the afternoon climbing the tree and playing with the googlies. Her family had joined at a certain point but both her grunkles tapped out early on to set up camp. 

It was nice to have spent the day as a family, maybe they could do this more often?

Letting out a rather large, but covered, yawn and waving the curious googlies away she felt her eyes close and she fell asleep.   


. . . 

**Star. Shooting Star you need to get up right now.**

**  
** Mabel grumbled as she paced the length of the room Bill was hovering in. Several orbs and screen floated about the room showing different things to the triangle but he was ignoring them all. Instead of watching them he was following Mabel as she paced back and forth. 

_Can't I get one nights sleep without you going all cray-cray?_

Bill's eye narrowed as he crossed his arms in front of him. 

**Fine, get eaten. I don't care.**

Mabel came to a screeching halt as she whipped her head around to stare at the dream demon. 

_What!?_

Uncrossing his arms he waved his left hand in a circle pulling an orb from behind him to show Mabel the area around her and her sleeping family. So he could see through the aspen trees...

The googlies had settled over everyone's bodies but she could see the looming creature pacing the treeline just behind where she was looking at. 

**Despite how stupid they look, they're smart little fucks.**

Mabel blushed at his strong language, she wasn't really use to people cussing around her yet. Stan was slowly starting to do it more but he censored himself a majority of the time.

**They drain you of your energy so when daddy comes home he has an easy meal.**

She could feel the slight shake in her hands as he spoke but it wasn't from fear any more no...

**I'd get up now Star.**

She was gonna kick some monster butt.

_No one messes with our family but us!_


	12. Mac Daddy Googlie

It was hard to sit up. Despite how light the googlies were before they felt like lead balls now. Slowly shifting to her stomach she pressed her hands against the ground slowly lifting her body up.

The googlies began chiming what she could only assume was a warning to the larger creature that she was awake. That just meant she had to move much quicker.She didn't want to be caught off guard by the bigger one. 

She shifted her hand to lift herself better and smiled when she felt the cold grip of her grappling hook under her pillow. Digging her fingers into the grip she ripped her body to her feet her head swimming as her vision splotched at the quick movement.

Pointing the gun upwards she jammed back on the trigger launching the hook upwards, a warrior scream passing her lips as she did so. 

“GRAPPLING HOOK!”

The cord tightened and her body launched upwards into the branches of the tree, thankfully clear of googlies for the time being. Scrambling across a larger branch she eyed the creature moving around.

It wasn’t as scary as it had originally looked in the distance a few hours ago. She honestly wished they would have went a little bit closer because there was no way Stan or Ford would have run from the stupid looking creature. 

“uck…too many eyes, not enough glitter...”

She could hear Bill’s laughter rattling her brain as she stared at the beast. Unlike the googlies, with a single pair of large over-sized eyes, the beast had hundreds. It was literally a walking jar of googly eyes, oh and a weird upside down mouth.

The Mac Daddy Googlie rattled when he walked and Mabel watched it for a moment as it paced the area. She wondered what it would be like to have that many eyes, tilting her head to the side she covered one of her eyes with the palm of her hand and wobbled on her branch.

No two eyes was perfect, she would have to ask Bill how he only managed with one.

It was only when it lowered itself near Stan did she shoot her grappling hook again. No one messes with her family except her. There was no way she was gonna let that nasty thing touch her family!

She wasn’t quite sure what she was supposed to do to defeat it and Bill wasn’t doing much besides laughing at her so there was no way for her to tell if she was doing something right or not. So she went with her guts, there was really only thing that she could rely on fully, herself. 

She watched as the grappling hook launched itself into the mass before catching on something and launching Mabel towards the rattling mess.

She collided with the creature at full speed sending googly eyes all over the area. Stumbling to get her bearings she tripped over the hook of her gun and fell face first in to one of the large eyes.

The minute her head collided with the eye it burst under her weight covering her in some sort of pastel fluid. Sitting still for a minute Mabel looked down at her hands blinking a few times before a large smile crossed her lips and she burst into laughing.

“This is gonna be so fun!”

Mabel launched to her feet lunging forward she landed squarely on another eye watching as it burst into another pastel explosion coating the sides and bottoms of her shoes with the liquid.

She proceeded to jump around the area, swatting away the floating googlies so she could continue to splash in the goolgie eyes. Turning around to find another eye to jump on she froze swallowing thickly at the spindly creature in front of her.

She could hear the murmurs of her family as they began to wake up, the fluffy ones she had been batting away no longer keeping them down.  Drenched in a variety of pastel goo she continued staring at the beast.

Without the cluster of googly eyes the beast was just a large mouth on almost a twig like body. She covered her mouth with one hand as she made gagging noises, staring straight at the creature.

“Oh that’s sick!”

She watched the two or three googly eyes she hadn’t burst yet roll back towards the mouth sticking to the twig like Velcro. Well now she was glad she had burst so many of them earlier. 

Shrugging she moved forward mimicking what she had seen Stan do so many times and slammed her fist into the remaining eyes splattering the area with the pastel colors. Repeating the actions a few more times she closed one of her eyes as the liquid splashed all over her hair, face and clothes. 

As her fist punctured through the last eye the creature let out a warbled cry and burst into a variety of colors splattering the nearby googlies with color and forcing them to the ground. Now that they were wet they were too heavy to float around.

“Muhb…Muhbul…” She turned around and grinned at her grunkle as he twisted to lift himself to a sitting position. Wiping her eyes with the backs of her hands she only smeared the goo around a little bit more but did end up freeing both eyes from the color liquid. 

Ford had been right with his earlier assessment Mabel…she was terrifying.

He had been awake enough to see a good portion of the fight against whatever she had just finished killing. He didn’t know if she truly understood the fact that she was killing the creature but if she did it made Ford even more wary of the girl.

She had been laughing and grinning the entire time she jumped around the area. When her fist had connected with the last eye ball she let out such a loud happy screech Ford had to close his eyes at the sight.

She was finding enjoyment in this…Sure he had the thrill of adrenaline when he was hunting a new creature but he never thought about it when killing one. When he killed a creature now it was a stoic moment. There was no joy in taking another creature's life, he wouldn't be like the other being's he had come across during his travels. 

It could just be because it’s colorful, and playful, and something would have to be wrong for Mabel not to have some enjoyment with googly eyes. There was still a bit of hesitation when he thought of the girl in place of the things that use to hunt him down. He could imagine it just a little too easily. 

“Grunkle Ford are you okay?” He blinked a few times at Mabel’s outstretched hand as her voice brought her out of his thoughts. He grabbed her hand and although he didn’t use it to lift himself up he pretended for the small girl’s sake. 

No he was being insane, this was his niece after all. His bright shining all about family niece. She would never hurt another creature if she actually knew what she was doing...then again...

Now on his feet he stabled himself with her head for a moment before moving across the clearing to help his brother to his feet, Mabel doing the same for Dipper.

Once all four Pines were standing and each were awake enough to move out they headed back towards the shack as Mabel recounted what had happened while they were all asleep.

“Okay but Mabes there’s one thing I don’t understand.”

She blinked, cutting her story off as she looked over at her brother in confusion. Dipper couldn’t understand something? Well sure he mistook things but he was a lot smarter now and it was rare there was something he didn't flat out understand. 

“How did you wake up?”

She was sure the color had drained from her face. How was she supposed to answer that without giving away Bill? He had been the one to wake her up from her sleep but she couldn’t tell her family that.

She twisted her head to look at her Grunkle Stan. She couldn’t tell him that Bill was inside her brain, not after what happened last summer. Not after almost losing him…

“I uh, I got up from uh, determination! I just really wanted to play with the googlies!” She laughed scratching the back of her head before bouncing off towards the shack patting each aspen tree she could see as she went. A silent thank you to the laughing Dorito sharing her mind. 


	13. Good Birthday

_Well I’ll admit only one thing. They did look stupid._

Laughter burst around her as she scratched the back of her head. Maybe they hadn’t looked stupid originally but they sure did now. She cringed as she thought back to how readily she had accepted the creatures.

**I’m always right Star. You should know that by now.**

She rolled her eyes before leaning forward and moving one of the little horses. Bill rose his hand as if to correct her before waving it off and moving his castle in a completely wrong direction as well.

It wasn’t chess but he’d learn to play by her rules. Her rules were always more fun anyway.

_Yeah uh-huh._

Mabel snickered as she took one of the horses and rammed him into one of the little, what had Dipper called them before, pawns? With a strange horse noise she sent the yellow piece flying off the board before it vanished. Looking across the board at Bill she laughed and waggled her eyebrows.

He waved his hand as his bishop, according to her rules, moved 4 spaces up, 2 left and one diagonally back to the right, claiming her black horse as it vanished from the board.

She stuck her tongue out at him before shifting in her seat her feet kicking at the chess pieces before the entire board disappeared along with the table.

Color had slowly been coming back to the area where Bill resided. He had told her that with a combination of her overly colorful brain and his power returning eventually the area would be filled with color once again.

She was happy to hear that, as much as she enjoyed talking with Bill still she didn’t like doing it in such a sad looking place. She had always made sure to wear a vibrant sweater when they planned to meet, that way at least she could be the bit of color in the dark space.

She shifted as the chair under her moved to a much bigger couch allowing her more room to shift about and get comfortable. Bill knew her well enough now that she didn’t need to voice her wants to the triangle, he would know almost at the same time she did what she wanted and would make it appear for her.

Speaking of…She smiled as a pair of knitting needles appeared before her and although the yarn was a drab gray she began to  knit anyway just happy to have yarn to work on.

It was silent for a few minutes the only sound between them was the clicking of her needles and Bill’s fingers thrumming on the arm of his chair. He cleared his throat and Mabel glanced up towards him her face twisted in confusion, he never cleared his throat for no reason.

**Why do you do that thing?**

Mabel cursed as she dropped a stitch moving to fix it before looking back up at Bill.

_Knitting? Well I gue-_

**Not knitting the thing you do with Stan.**

Mabel frowned as she lowered her needles, the thing she did with Stan? Mabel pulled her bottom lip into her mouth chewing it as she turned her head staring off into the warping void.

She shot her head back towards him as he snapped his fingers and Mabel watched as his eye flashed a few different scenes of her sitting on her grunkles lap.

She dropped the knitting needles knowing full well they would vanish before actually falling anywhere. She covered her mouth as she tried her hardest not to laugh at Bill. He wanted to know why she sat on his lap?

_Uh…well I mean it’s super comfy. It’s how we relax and junk._

She shrugged. She wasn’t really sure why anyone sat on anyone’s lap. It was just something she was use to doing.

Sure time moved differently when she was here with Bill but sometimes she wondered if he could just manipulate time. He was in front of her and before she could really register what was going on he had lifted her arms up and was sitting in her lap.

She stayed perfectly still; the stillest she could remember being her whole life. She didn’t want to shift wrong and knock him off or piss him off when he was right there in her lap.

She could feel the heat rising in her cheeks the longer he sat there. She had never been this close to someone that wasn’t her family.

Sure the vampires liked hugs but that was only because they wanted to suck her blood and she wasn’t having that.

**Hmm…this is stupid.**

She burst into laughter before leaning forward and wrapping her arms around his edges. Pressing her face against his back she smiled trapping him there in her arms.

_Yeah but I bet you feel tons better!_

Another fit of laughter took her at his silence and she closed her eyes sinking into the feeling of the both of them just sitting there.

_Can…can I ask you a question?_

The silence stretched on for a few more moments and Mabel bit her tongue. She knew he wasn’t going to answer her. He didn’t like to answer her stupid questions, she knew he could ask questions, she didn’t need his confirmation.

_Why did you pick me that day…?_

True to her mind the area around them began to shift with her memories. She watched as the scene before them warped into a monochrome vision of weirdmageddon.

Bill knew what she was asking about, the vision shifted enough that he could see the twins held in his hand. He remembered it vividly.

He had been so angry, she had not only shot spray paint into his eye it was her and her brother that ran away. They had gotten him distracted and he hadn’t seen the older twins switch places. He had…

**You were the biggest threat.**

She lifted her head up staring at the back of his top hat, she felt his hands lower on top of hers and she exhaled the breath she didn’t realize she had been holding.

_Say what!?_

She could almost feel his eye roll with the way he began talking.

**Seriously kid? Think about it, would Pine Tree even have been a threat without you?**

Mabel shifted and Bill attempted to turn, she hissed as his edged caught her arm and she lifted them up to allow him to sit in her lap facing her.

**You’re the fire in the fight.**

She felt the blood rush back to her face as his small hands lifted her arms back around his sides.

**Trust me. I wouldn’t have offered Pine Tree the same deal if he had been in your shoes.**

He snapped and the memory faded away from view allowing the two to sit in a gray swirling galaxy as items drifted by them once more. She watched as a chess horse drifted by.

**Oh Shooting Star.**

She twisted around watching as Bill pushed himself out of her lap and drifting backwards into a chair he had called for himself.

She watched as the scenes flashed in his eye, switching from the different scenes of when she would sit before his statue and talk.

Confused at the random flashes Bill didn’t offer any insight to the scene change before lowering himself down his cane sliding out in front of him as he twirled it lazily.

**Happy Birthday.**

**…**

She jolted up more confused by why Bill had kicked her out so fast then him actually wishing her a happy birthday. He was acting weird and she didn’t know if she liked that.

Rubbing her arms she climbed out of bed before checking the time, it was only 6 early enough for her to be awake on her own.

Smirking she crawled over and onto Dipper’s bed, standing up she began launching herself up and down on her brother’s bed.

“GET UP DIP-DOP!”

She could hear his groans from underneath her before she flopped down next to him sending him up in a flurry of high pitched screams and appendage flailing.

“What?” Mabel giggled as Dipper retrieved himself from under the mess Mabel had made, “Mabel? What the hell’s wrong?” Mabel slapped both sides of her face her mouth forming a perfect ‘o’ at her brother’s words.

He dug his hand out from under the blanket before slugging his sister in the arm. “Shut up.” She broke down laughing before throwing her arm around her bothers neck.

“Happy birthday Bro-Bro.” He threw his arm around her the best he could in the awkward position. “Yeah yeah happy birthday to you too. Now get off me!” She laughed as he shoved her away from him and she scrambled off his bed and into the bathroom to get ready for the day.

Her sweater was a pastel pink with 14 gold stars and 14 green pine trees on the sweater to symbolize their birthday. She had made it the other night and although she had made one for Dipper as well she knew he wouldn’t wear it and that was alright with her.

She moved downstairs with Dipper to find Ford and Stan around the table in the living room with a few boxes.

As soon as they entered the room they hear two loud pops as confetti streamed down around them. Laughing Soos and Melody moved away from the door frame and towards the table where the grunkles stood.

The day went smoothly. It was supposed to be a smaller event then last year per the twins request but when a party was held in Gravity Falls it didn’t stay small for long.

Wendy and the gang stopped as well as Pacifica and although she hadn’t really wanted to see him Gideon even stopped by to say hello. As the day  continued more and more people began to arrive and before they knew it a full party was in swing.

“Well hello Sugar Plum,” Mabel cringed at the nickname as Gideon approached behind her. Turning she forced out a laugh before raising finger guns to shoot at Gideon.

“Heh..Hey Gideon…” He moved forward and Mabel shifted backwards trying to distance herself more from the child ‘psychic.’ Gideon shot a look over his shoulder and she followed his gaze to see his two body guards mingling with Wendy and her friends.

“Ain’t they the sweetest?” Mabel clenched her teeth forcing a smile as she nodded. “haha…yeah. The-” Gideon spun around stepping towards her again and she fell silent under his words. “Although not as sweet as you Sugar Plum.”

She could hear Bill making retching noises in her head and she couldn’t help the smile that fought itself to her mouth at Bill’s noises. Unfortunately the smile was misinterpreted by Gideon.

“There’s that smile! How ‘bout me and you have a dance?” Mabel rose both her hands in a defensive manner shaking them as she backed up again.

“Oh ho buddy. No way.” Bill’s laughter kicked in now and she took another step back this time thankfully Gideon didn’t follow her.

“W-what?” Mabel frowned as she lowered her hands. “Gideon…you’re a pal…a good friend…uh…”

She felt Bill push forward before she could stop him his words slipping from her tongue.

“You’d have to make once heck of a deal with Bill for me to consider dating you.” She slapped her hands over her mouth as she turned around slipping out of the shack.

She didn’t want to see Gideon’s reaction as she left. His widening eyes and reddening throat were enough for her to know his anger and frustration were going to boil over. The shock of Bill’s name was enough for her to flee.

_Bill what the flip flop is wrong with you! He’s gonna think I’m cray cray now!_

She groaned high fiving Wendy as she walked by their group, Thompson was stuck up on the top of the totem pole somehow and the others were currently throwing pine cones at him.

**What? He won’t bother you any more that’s what you wanted isn’t it?**

She laughed shaking her head as she moved to stand next to her brother as they cheered Thompson on watching as his pants ripped and he fell from the top of the totem.

_Thanks Bill. That’s the best birthday gift I’ve gotten._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello Peaches.  
> Sorry the last two chapters were a bit wonky haha.  
> I hope this one is a little bit better for you!  
> I was planning to put a few more fillers in before I started with the story again buuuuut  
> I wan't the story to progress so the next two chapters will be VERY story heavy ♥  
> Oh! If you ever want to get in touch with me!  
> Please message me on Tumblr!  
> Just look up Spiralgoddess! I'll answer any questions or just chat with you!


	14. The Fight

She stared at the sign hanging off the door in front of her. Narrowing her eyes she glanced over her shoulder at the yard behind her before turning around and looking at the sign again.

“Pardon this what now?”

She jumped as the door swung open and the sign disappeared from sight. Lifting her gaze upwards she let a hesitant smile pass her lips as she pulled Bud Gleeful into vision.

“We~ell if it isn’t Mabel Pines! Now what can I help you with darlin’?”

She shuffled her feet dropping her gaze to stare at the black shoes. Swallowing the lump in her throat she let out the breath she had been holding.

“Is uh, Gideon here?”

She listened to the rumbling laugh of Bud as he opened the door further allowing Mabel to enter the house. Smiling once more at the older Gleeful she moved past him and inside to their living room.

It wasn’t like her to be this quiet and Mabel hated it. She wished she could just be herself here but whenever she was around Gideon she just thought of all the creepy things he had done and it set her off. Plus the last time she was here her brother and her were trying to escape with their lives.

Lowering herself to sit on the pink couches she glanced around the room noticing a woman near the doorway vacuuming the wall. Wait, vacuuming the wall?

“Mabel?”

She jumped a bit and averted her gaze from the odd woman to the younger Gleeful walking into the room. He shooed both his parents away and lowered himself into the armchair near where she was sitting.

“And to what do I owe this visit?”

Crossing his legs Gideon propped his elbow on the arm rest and dropped his chin onto the back of his curled hand. His eyes bored into Mabel’s and she scratched at her upper arm uneasily.

Even after her family had debunked him as a psychic he still carried himself like he was one. He was all about the showbiz and Mabel had to make sure she wasn’t talked into circles around him.

“Ah, well. I wanted to talk about what happened at the party.”

Gideon’s eyes darkened and Mabel shifted tugging the ends of her sweater down before taking a deep breath. She maintained eye contact with the boy, she could hear Bill screaming at her not to look away. Stay confident.

She had to remember what her grunkle had told her. He had given her so many tips on how to lie, how to make sure people couldn’t tell if you were fibbing. Now she had to live up to what he had taught her.

“I don’t really know why I said that. I was a little hyped up.”

She let out a shallow laugh before shrugging her shoulders. Letting a grin pull onto her face she shot a smile at the child psychic. Now to pour on the Mabel charm she knew he couldn’t resist.

“You know that Smile Dip stuff? The stuff banned in the U.S.?”

With that she was off, she told Gideon all about the shop and how she had found Smile Dip. She told him about the ghost old couple and how Dipper had saved them, though she didn’t tell him about Dipper’s Lamby Lamb dance, she had promised the twin not to tell anyone.

That led them to the other night; her brother had apparently pocketed a couple packets to give to her and had left them in Gravity Falls. He had found them the other night when packing and had given them to her as a gift.

Gideon began laughing at the end of her story and she smiled at the boy. She was thankful that he believed her story, the last thing she needed was the boy poking around.

Bill had agreed. He didn’t want Gideon to try to summon him after Mabel had said his name; he was unsure what would happen if he tried to leave her mind.

So here she was smiling as Gideon started rambling off about something. She could hear what she assumed was Bud, shuffling around in the doorway and she wondered what the older man could be thinking.

“So how about it dumplin’?”

Mabel jumped blinking rapidly as she stared at the younger boy across from her. Oh cracker jacks she probably should have been paying attention to him. Now she had gone and cornered herself.

“Now Gideon, I’m sure the girl has a lot of packing left to do seein’ as she leaves tomorrow and all…”

Gideon slammed his hand forward his index finger shaking as it pointed at his father. Red flushed up his neck and stained his face as he screeched.

“DID I ASK YOU OLD MAN?”

Mabel rose her hands in front of her shaking them quickly before standing to her feet trying to get his attention off his retreating father and back onto herself.

“Hey hey! It’s okay! He’s right and Dipper will kill me if I don’t finish packing tonight!”

She stumbled around the coffee table letting out a loud bark of a laugh as her shin connected with the furniture.

“I’ll see you later Gideon!”

She backed away from the boy making sure not to turn her back on him as she blindly fumbled for door handle behind her.

“Well if you change your mind I’ll be here peaches.”

She let another burst of laughter pass her lips as she found the handle and she wrenched the door open waving as she disappeared out the door and took off down the path leading to the house.

She didn’t stop running until Gideon’s house was far behind her. She didn’t want to take the risk of Gideon following her or trying to walk her home. Shuddering she rubbed her arms to rid herself of the bad feeling crawling up her spine.

“Yuck, that was harder than I thought…”

She could hear Bill cackling in her mind and she rolled her eyes slowing her pace to a leisurely one as she continued her way towards the Mystery Shack.

“Listen you scalene jerk, if you hadn’t opened your big non-existent mouth I wouldn’t have even had to talk to him!”

**Scalene? SCALENE!? DO YOU EVE-**

She huffed as she reeled her foot back sending the small rock in front of her flying forward and into the bushes before her. She felt a slamming pain in her forehead before she crumpled forward and onto the forest floor.

Groaning she pulled herself up a screech of anger passing her lips as she looked around.

Everything besides her and the triangle before her was black and white, and unlike being in her mind it was obvious to Mabel that this was similar to what had happened when Gideon had summoned Bill in the woods.

**DO I HAVE YOUR ATTENTION NOW!?**

Mabel scoffed as she pushed herself to her feet brushing off the front of her body to free it from the pine needles sticking to her.

_Listen-_

**NO YOU LISTEN.**

Mabel flinched as Bill moved to float before her, his body had grown and he was now towering over her his bricks now a vibrant red in contrast to his pitch black eye. Curling white fists at his side Mabel watched as red flames burst from his skin and licked at his arms.  

She stumbled backwards and he allowed the space between them as he lifted his arm pointing at her with a flaming digit.

**I HAVE BEEN FAR TOO LENIENT WITH YOU. YOU’RE GOING TO START LISTENING TO ME.**

Mabel swallowed the lump in her throat as she stared wide eyed at the triangle. He had been too lenient...too lenient!?

**I’M IN CHARGE HERE STA-**

_TOO LENIENT!?_

Mabel screeched as she lunged forward her small hands immediately going for the one weak spot she knew he had. His eye.

Her fingers found purchase in his eye as her nails dug in and she listened to his scream mixed in with her own anger filled screeching.

_TOO LENIENT!??_

She felt his fist connect with her side and it sent her off of him colliding to the ground. Lifting her head she glared at him through the curtain of brown around her face before lifting herself to her feet.

**STAY DOWN SHOOTING STAR.**

She grit her teeth as she lunged forward again her hands gripping his arm as he thrust his fist into her chest and she bit down hard on the soft flesh of his arm. Ignoring the searing pain shooting through her body as the red flames tore at her skin.

_IS NON STOP TALKING TOO LENIENT?_

She squeezed her eyes closed and held on as his other fist began colliding against her skull. She could see stars flashing before her eyes but she kept her mouth seared onto his arm and her nails began digging into the white flesh.

_IS MAKING ME DOUBT MY OWN FAMILY TOO LENIENT!?_

The fifth blow to her head forced her mouth from his arm and she crumpled off his arm and onto the ground below him. Shrinking his size only enough to reach her more easily he ripped his cane out before sending the butt of it into her side.

**I COULD GIVE YOU ETERNAL NIGHTMARES.**

She shifted to raise herself again only to be forced back to the ground by his cane to her skull. His foot connected with her skull in place of his cane and he stepped on her body the pressure keeping her against the ground.

**I COULD MAKE EVERYTHING YOU SEE TWIST INTO LIVING HELL.**

Blood bubbled from her mouth as his cane continued to land blows against her body and she squeezed her eyes listening to his voice boom around her. It was growing louder with each syllable and towards the end of his sentence the volume rattled her ribs.

**I COULD HAVE LET YOU DIE!**

Anger surged through her body as she screamed and like before a pink hamster ball surrounded herself and forced Bill’s foot and cane away from her. Throwing her arms up she watched as two cat heads took form on her fists again.

**WHAT!? YOU CANT-**

_Shut up!_

Punching forward she sent a flurry of cats towards the triangle and watched as they slammed into his body. Small cat teeth latched onto his body and he shouted as he tried to sweep them off of his body.

_If you hate it in my mind so bad then the deal’s off!_

Bill froze, a blast of red fire burning the mewling cats from his body. He shrunk to his normal size as the color began to drain from his bricks a muddy yellow bleeding in between the red.

**What?**

She let her fists return to normal as the hamster ball popped around her and she glared at the triangle across from her.

_You heard me. The deal’s off. You saved me; I let you in my mind that was the deal right? Well now you can leave and you don’t have to protect me anymore. Everyone’s happy!_

Back to his yellow color Bill blinked his eye in confusion as he stared at the girl. She was serious? She was actually serious…

**Shooting star….**

She threw her hands into the air taking a step towards him. He floated backwards allowing her room move towards him as she spat angrily.

_Summer’s over Bill. I’m going home. Honestly…_

She sighed as she lowered her hands wrapping her arms around her chest. Her anger was rapidly declining as her body stitched itself back together, no doubt thanks to Bill.

_Do whatever you want. If you want to keep the deal that’s fine I won’t mind just…_

She groaned flopping down to the ground as she pulled her turtleneck up and over her head withdrawing her hands through the sleeves.

Hovering quietly for a moment Bill grew his body just slightly before lowering himself behind her, his arms wrapping around her shoulders.  On instinct she lowered her body backwards and into his body just as she had done so many times with his statue.  

_We need to get along. I can’t…we can’t keep doing this…_

Keeping her head in her sweater she didn’t need to explain Bill knew what she meant. He knew anything she wanted to share with him. She couldn’t stand the back and forth, the good days only to be followed by the days they couldn’t get along.

It wasn’t like he was doing it on purpose and he knew she wasn’t either. They just hated each other still. He saw her as the brat that foiled his plans and she saw him as the monster that tried to kill him.

Even if on the good days they saw each other as…friends? No he wouldn’t go that far, although she had called him her friend multiple times…maybe they were friends?

Bill didn’t like admitting that he was wrong because well, he never was. Mabel was the same way, that’s why he liked her so much she was so much like him. No that was the wrong word, he didn’t like her he just…hated her the least out of the humans he knew.

**Alright.**

A confused noise echoed from within sweater town and Bill ignored the noise in a vote for silence. She didn’t seem to mind that much as she kept silent after her solo noise.

They sat together for a few more moments before Bill shifted away from her. With the loss of her support she rapidly extended her arms through her sleeves pulling her face from within her sweater.

**I’ll see you later Star.**

Before she could ask anything he disappeared and she found herself alone in the woods around the Mystery Shack. For the first time in a long time she couldn’t hear Bill chattering away in her mind and Mabel frowned in the realization that she had grown use to his voice.

She missed it.


	15. What's going to happen next

She tugged the zipper on her suitcase closed and sighed. This was it. The end of summer.

She felt the pull in the back of her mind once again as she thought about the eternal summer she had been so willing to let Blendin give her last year. Would she still have accepted it if she knew it was Bill? Part of her already knew the answer.

She looked around her room before she felt the tears begin to sting again. Waddles wouldn’t be coming with her this year. She had known about it earlier and Soos and Melody were more than happy to take the pig in but she couldn’t imagine a year without Waddles.

She placed her hand on the top of the pig and sighed. He had been quiet today and Mabel knew it was because Waddles understood. He was just as sad as she was.

She wished that she could talk to Bill. She had been trying all morning, asking for his name, asking random questions. She had even tried to insult him a few times in hopes that it would get him angry enough to talk to her. Yet silence permeated through the house.

She feared that he had taken her words and had ended the deal. She had tried to take it back, tried to offer him a way to stay in her mind, to stay with her. He had seen his opening to leave though and apparently…he had taken it.

She pulled her suitcase behind her and down the stairs; Ford had talked to Dipper about an apprenticeship again this year but unlike last summer her brother accepted. He had told his grunkle that he would return to Piedmont with his sister and talk to his parents about switching schools.

He had made it clear to Ford that he wanted to continue his education despite Ford’s persistence that he wouldn’t need one. The two had come to an arrangement and now Mabel just had to find a way to move up here with him. Maybe her parents would let her to be close to Dipper, Candy and Grenda?

She groaned as a searing pain shot through her head and she rubbed her forehead a few times before staggering down the rest of the stairs. It didn’t feel like something Bill had caused, if anything it felt like just a regular headache.  

She stumbled into the living room where her family was waiting and let out a small smile as they noticed her. There was no time for any last adventures today, there were only two busses that would take the teens to Piedmont and they had already missed the first one.

So they piled into the back of Stan’s car, Soos and Melody let Wendy and Pacifica ride with them as they followed behind them to the bus station. It was a similar feeling to last year; they were 14 now after all.

She gave her friends each long hugs before moving on to her grunkles. Stan picked her up and held her for a few minutes before setting her down to bend over and talk with Dipper.

She moved to Ford reaching out she wrapped her arms around his waist, his hands gripping her shoulders as they embraced. Sure he had gotten used to physical contact since he had come back but it was still hard for him to do so.

He was also still wary of the girl, she had been expressing headaches for the past few weeks and he had caught her talking to herself a couple times. She was beginning to express signs he didn’t want to admit were bothering him.

He felt her loosen her grip around his waist and he lifted his hands off her shoulders allowing her to pull away from him and flatten out the front of her outfit.

She backed away before waving goodbye once more and crawling onto the bus into the back seat. Dipper lowered himself next to her and the two sat in silence as the bus pulled away from their waving friends and family.

They would be back next year right? Maybe if Dipper and her could convince their parents they could return even sooner.

“Dipper…promise you won’t come back up here without me?”

Her ‘younger’ brother laughed before slugging her in the arm. Shifting once he had done so he wrapped his arm around her shoulder bringing their heads together as he lowered his voice.

“Mabes we’re the Mystery Twins.”

He shifted excitedly as he removed his hand from around her shoulder and motioned for her to come closer to he could whisper.

“I wanted to surprise you but Ford wants to train you too stupid. I mean I wouldn’t have been able to solve half those mysteries without you!”

She felt hope blossom in her chest once again and she let a chrome smile fill her brothers vision.

“WHAT!?”

She screeched in joy as she lunged forward wrapping her arms around his neck as she burst into laughter. With that the twins fell into a comfortable whisper as they began planning how to bribe their parents to return to Gravity Falls.

...

Mabel could barely hold her pencil. Whatever her teacher was writing on the whiteboard swam before her and forced her stomach to churn uneasily. She shakingly rose her hand and quickly removed herself from the classroom once the teacher had dismissed her.

Rushing to the restroom she spilled her lunch into the toilet her nails squeaking as she gripped the porcelain.

Leaning back she sat on the restroom floor her back against the door as she panted to catch her breath. She didn’t know why she was getting sick so often lately, and the only reason she was pushing herself to get through was the approach of summer vacation. She only had two weeks before summer started and her parents would have to hold up their end of the deal to allow her and Dipper to move to Gravity Falls.

They hadn’t been persuaded when the twins had come home begging their parents to let them live with their Grunkle in Gravity Falls.

Sure their family knew how smart Stanford was, he was brilliant and while his recent activities weren’t what the family had expected from the smarter brother Mabel and Dipper’s parents were glad he was spurring a desire to learn in them.

So Mabel had proposed a deal, maybe hanging with Bill was rubbing off of her more then she thought but her parents had taken the bait.

If Dipper and her could get all A’s then they would let them finish high school in Gravity Falls. So each night the twins put their heads together and worked diligently to make sure that Mabel could keep her grades up so the two would be able to live in the mystery filled town.

She felt a headache crawl across her forehead once again and she bit her tongue hard trying to keep down the second bout of vomit. The pain in her mouth failed to distract her stomach and she bent forward to spill her guts once again.

Once her stomach settled enough to move she flushed the evidence away and removed herself out of the stall. Stumbling forward and heaving in breaths she found purchase on the sink steadying herself for a few moments before she twisted the knob allowing cold water to pour out.

Removing her death grip from the sink lip she cupped water into her hands splashing the cold liquid onto her burning face relishing in the feeling.  Cupping a few more handfuls onto her face she bent her head forward to fill her mouth rinsing the vile taste from inside.

She fumbled with the paper towels rubbing the scratchy brown paper across her skin to dry herself off. She didn’t know if it was because she was sick or if it was a new brand of paper towel but it hurt as it slid across her skin.

Crumpling the paper she chucked it across the room watching as it pitifully landed a few feet shy of the trash can. Let a stressed laugh out she stumbled forward to pick up the paper and make sure it successfully made it into the bin.

Exhaling a few times she slowly moved back to her classroom to suffer through the last hour of class. She would have to do it, she could call in sick tomorrow and have her brother take the proper notes for her but she knew her parents would just make her wait in the nurse’s office anyway so she might as well be in class.

The walk back to the classroom seemed much longer than the walk to the bathroom. Confusion swarmed Mabel’s warm brain as she moved. Why were the classes being so loud? It was like each teacher was screaming at their classes and the students were screaming right back at them.

Finally she could see her classroom. Just a few more steps and she could cubby herself in her corner seat next to her brother and fake her way.  

Shuffling into the classroom she held her breath with each step. When did her shoes get so loud? She didn’t want to turn to face her class but she was sure everyone was looking at her with how loud she was walking.

Lowering herself into her seat she lifted her head back towards the teacher sighing as she noticed no one was looking at her anymore. She was thankful for that at least it was easier to fake if no one was staring at her.

She rose her hands to her head her fingers digging into her hair and pulling as she bit her tongue to prevent a groan from filling her mouth. Why was everything so loud? Each pencil against its corresponding notebook was like a nail scratching behind her eyes.

Someone was clicking a pen, god it was probably Dipper. She could hear the incessant high pitched click followed by its companion low pitch click in rapid secession and each click was driving a nail further into her forehead.

On top of the clicking, and the scratching and her teacher yelling at the class she could hear each tick of the clock. Her stomach flipped with each second that clapped through the room and she knew if it didn’t stop soon she was going to be sick again and this time she wouldn’t be able to make it to the bathroom.

Hot tears pricked at her eyes and she was thankful her head was down pointed at her desk. She didn’t understand why she was so sick. She had progressively gotten sicker each day since she had left Gravity Falls.

A part of her wondered if it was because she _wasn’t in_ Gravity Falls as she reason why she was getting sick. The rational part of her brain knew that wasn’t possible and didn’t know why she was sick.

**...go...**

She clamped her mouth shut as her stomach forced its way up her throat and she disgustingly swallowed the bile down. Her nails dug into her scalp as her eyes widened tears rapidly falling at this point.

**Go BaCk...**

Was she really hearing him? After a full year with no word, no noise, nothing from him was he actually talking to her? He hadn’t left her after all?

**Star...**

A flood of emotions hit her harder than the sickness when she heard her name called out by his voice. It was Bill. He had never left her. Why hadn’t he talked to her? Why had he waited so long?

**...Star...**

His voice was softer again and Mabel scrunched her eyes close, her hands shifted from the sides of her head to cover her ears. She tried her hardest to block out the other sounds of the class as she strained to hear his voice.

_Bill, what’s…what’s happening?_

She waited for him to respond and the fear in her stomach churned it once more. Maybe she was just hallucinating his voice, maybe her desire to return to Gravity Falls was personifying itself into Bill’s voice.

**...go back...Gravity Falls...Body can’t...much distance... it's dying...**

She couldn’t make out everything he was saying, his voice was fading in and out and all the other noise of the classroom made it too hard to hear. She bit her tongue hard enough to taste blood in her mouth to keep herself from screaming at her class for them to shut up.

_Bill I don’t understand what are you tryi-_

The bell signaling the end of the day burst through her muffled silence and Mabel’s vision filled with white. The shrill echo was so loud; it was so loud she couldn’t see, she couldn’t hear anything besides the damn ringing.

Slumping forward her head collided with the desk and she fell unconscious.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't know where this burst of inspiration is coming from but I had to share it!  
> I hope you enjoy peaches! Now back to writing before it goes away!


	16. Sick Mabel

“Darling are you alright? That’s the eighth time you’ve sighed in five minutes…”

Dipper glanced up from his notebook to look at his mother from across the room. Was she serious? Of course he wasn’t alright! His sister was in a fucking hospital bed unconscious acr-

Sighing once more he pinched the bridge of his nose with the hand not holding the pen he was rapidly clicking to keep his mind sane. No there was no use getting riled up over what his mother was saying.

He wished his father had been here instead, he wasn’t nosy when he was here unlike his mother. He kept to himself and let Dipper keep to himself. Most of the time his father would just sit there and either stare at Mabel or out the window. He wasn't one to talk much. 

Dipper still couldn't believe that he was here with his sister, and he could still remember that day clearly. He had turned around to ask if his sister was alright, he had seen her when she had come back from the bathroom and she hadn't looked good at all. When he turned around though he found her unconscious on top of her wet notes.

He didn’t even care that his voice had cracked when he screamed at his teacher to get help; he just wanted his sister to be alright.

Deciding to ignore his mother just like he had been doing all week he turned his attention back towards the blue notebook in his lap. His hand writing covered the page, scrawled about the page and in the margins of the notebook he tried to cram as much information as he could in one page. 

He had listed all of her symptoms by when they had begun; it was a lengthy list unfortunately. Headaches, fever, vomiting, blue lips, dizzy spells, the list went on and on he had long ago lost count of how many he had listed. He sighed as he took off his hat pushing his hair off his forehead to cool the skin there for a moment.

He had started the list the first night his sister had to have spent in the hospital, hoping somehow it would help the doctors figure out what was wrong with her and wake her up faster. They assured him that she was simply showing signs of extreme fatigue and would wake up on her own.

Dipper didn’t believe it; she had so many other symptoms that didn’t match her just having extreme fatigue. He had even e-mailed Ford to get his input on it and as far as he knew his grunkles were doing just as much research on the topic now that they were back in Gravity Falls. Dipper and Mabel’s parents were expecting to meet their uncle after all.

He looked up from his notebook towards his sister and frowned the clicking of his pen falling silent as he looked at her. She had been in the hospital for a week and a half and with each passing day Dipper grew angrier at the doctors for their lack of urgency.  

Sure they had switched from their previous announcement of extreme fatigue, they were unsure of why she was now near comatose. She wasn't responding to outside stimuli and wasn't waking up. There was still brain activity though and once in a while Dipper swore he heard her murmur something. It was too soft for him to pick up though and she never did it if someone else was in the room. 

The skin around Mabel's eyes was darkening, heavy bags dragging at her face despite the amount of sleep she was getting. The rest of her skin was shockingly pale, almost translucent in certain parts. He could count the burns and scars that littered her body from either their adventures or her crafting accidents and on slow days he made a point to list what each scar was from. Something to keep his mind off her sleeping state.

Her hair was lacking its shine and even though the kind nurse tried her best to keep it clean it just didn't have the normal fluff he was use too.  He didn't even want to get started on the clothes they were making her wear.

The bland hospital gown and sheets weren't his sister, it wasn't anything she would have agreed to wear. He had tried to bring blankets she would have liked or headbands but the doctors didn't want anything from home yet in case that was what made her sick. 

While she was thankfully breathing on her own she still had an air hose hooked up through her nose to keep her breathing steady. An array of wires and IV lines kept her connected to the multiple screams flashing behind her and kept her healthy.

Grunting he snapped his notebook closed and tucked it into his vest before moving out and into the hallway. He didn’t know what he was going to do if she didn’t wake up. Would he be able to leave his sister here and go back to Gravity Falls?

He found himself staring at the small coffee maker near where his sister was roomed and despite his parent’s dislike for him drinking the liquid he decided to pour himself a cup. He would need the energy; he still had to do the makeup work for himself and his sister.

His fingers nearly punched holes through the weak cup as he let out a shallow laugh. As far as his teachers new Mabel was at least awake in the hospital and no one questioned her homework when he used her trademark glitter pens to complete her assignments.

“That bad huh?”

Dipper jumped nearly spilling the contents of his coffee all over the front of himself. Catching the Styrofoam cup at the last minute he brought it closer to his chest as he spun to look up at his father.

The older man sighed before reaching around Dipper to pour himself a cup of coffee and motioned for his son to follow him into a small waiting area. They had been in the room a couple of times, it was where the doctors shooed them too when they needed to bathe or do tests on Mabel that they couldn't be in the room for.  

The pair of men sat next to each other in silence for a few moments. The background noise of whatever news station was playing on the small TV mounted in the corner of the room. Dipper shifted in the silence listening to his vest squeak against the plastic cushion he was leaning against. 

“Are you all packed son?”

Nearly choking on the coffee he had finally decided to drink he swallowed the bitter liquid before lowering his hand back down to rest the cup and prevent him from spilling all over himself. 

“uh, I don’t…what?”

Mr. Pines kept his attention turned away from his son apparently finding interest in the TV now. Dipper sat patiently as his father took another drink from his own cup, lowering it to his lap he held the cup with both hands as he sighed.

“Your mother and I talked. We think sending you to live with Stanford would still be the best idea.”

Dipper’s fingers did crush the Styrofoam this time. He ignored the liquid tingling his hand as the coffee spilled off the armrest and on to the ground. Thankfully the chairs were big enough that none of the liquid managed to land on his shorts. 

“bu-but Mabel? I mean I couldn’t leave her and-”

His father rumbling his real name forced Dipper’s mouth to still as he stared at him.

“The doctors don’t know when Mabel is going to wake up. You can’t live in that room forever.”

Dipper fell silent as he turned away from his father and down towards his hand. Pulling his fingers free from the cup he pulled a few Kleenex from his vest pocket and began cleaning his hand and the arm rest.

Sure he had thought about this earlier but would he really be able to leave his sister here? He had been talking to Ford and Stan as much as he could but the constant watch of someone else in the hospital made it difficult for Dipper to come up with supernatural ideas.

If he went to Gravity Falls he would at least be able to spend the time with his grunkles coming up with better ideas. He knew his parents would keep him updated on his sisters’ symptoms but would they really tell him the truth?

His fingers found his pen buried underneath the Kleenex in his pocket and brought it to his mouth to chew on the end cap. His father was a man of few words and if he was talking about this now Dipper was smart enough to know nothing he said was going to change his father's mind. 

Sighing Dipper slid the pen back into his pocket his hands shoving themselves in the comfortable cocoons. Being able to talk with Ford more freely about this could save his sister’s life. Both his grunkles knew how to drive anyway so they could always drive down and see her if something happens.

“Alright. I’ll pack tonight.”

....

How did normal people do this? Ride buses in silence? The normally long bus ride seemed to triple in length without the bubbly addition of his sister. She would normally be talking to him, or singing some girly song loud enough he would have to apologize to the bus driver. 

Here he was though, sitting in silence in the back seat of the bus as he watched the trees blur by the window. He had tried to listen to music earlier but the third song on shuffle happened to be a Several Timez song Mabel had put on and Dipper shoved the music player as quickly as he could into his backpack. 

The groaning of the bus was a call of relief to teen as he stood slinging his backpack over his shoulder and shuffled to grab his suitcase from the seat beside him. It was heavier than normal and Dipper was thankful he at least didn't have a lot of items he had to send to the Mystery Shack before hand. He still had the bed Stan had gotten from him and besides clothes and a few books Dipper really didn't own much. 

Dragging the suitcase behind him he watched as the doors swung open and Ford stepped into view. Tugging his bag behind him he listened as it thumped against each step, once he had cleared it off the doors they slid closed behind him and without much waiting the bus pulled away leaving the boy coughing from the dust it had kicked up. 

“Son, I’m glad you’re here. Listen I’ve narrowed down the list of ailments Mabel could have but I need to know…”

Dipper felt his bag pulled from his hands as Stan took it and moved a few feet away to load it into the trunk of his car. Dipper let his mind drift away from Ford and whatever he was saying as he watched Stan try to force the trunk closed the latch apparently not wanting to catch. 

Shifting his attention back towards Ford he could see the man's mouth was still moving and Dipper tried his hardest to listen to what the author of the journals was saying. He knew he should probably be paying attention but he just couldn't. Not yet. 

“Sixer shut up. Let the kid get settled first.”

Dipper tugged the ear flaps of his hat down a bit more as Stan's voice boomed around him and Ford nodded falling silent. Nodding to he boy he shuffled away wrenching open the door to the backseat of Stan's car he climbed in and sighed. He didn’t feel right being here without Mabel, it was to calm of a drive without Mabel bouncing excitedly in the seat next to him. 

Sighing he crossed his arms over his chest and leaned against the door pressing his forehead against the glass. The cold material felt good against his forehead, it helped ease the headache that was growing with his frustration.  He had broken his promise to his sister and had come up here without her.

A large hand on his knee forced him to jump away from the window and turn towards the front of the car again. Ford was twisted around in his seat staring back at the younger Pines. The older man let a small smile pass his face as he patted his knee a few times. 

“Listen Dipper, we’ll figure out what’s wrong with Mabel. She’ll be here before you know it.”

Dipper nodded his head before watching Ford turn back around and strike up a conversation with his brother leaving Dipper to his thoughts once again. 

Ford was right as always and Dipper felt the flame of determination burst into his chest. Ford was the smartest person in the universe right now so if anyone was going to solve it, it would be him.

Mabel would be up with them in Gravity Falls before the summer was over. Clenching his fists he nodded to his reflection and made a promise not only to himself but to his sleeping sister.

She would be here with them before their birthday.


	17. What's ailing Mabel?

“THIS IS POINTLESS!” Dipper’s arm dropped to the table as he swept it to the side sending papers and pens scattered about the living room. Not that it would look any different. Papers covered almost every inch of the room besides the television screen and the couch where his grunkle would sit.

Dropping back to his seat he crossed his arms on the now clean table before lowering his face into the cubby he had made. Their research while moving quickly as apparent with the research littering the house was getting them no closer to finding out what was ailing his sister.

The first few weeks they simply began to rule out the obvious. No vampire had bit her, Dipper was sure of that. The twins had spent almost all their time together so he would have seen something obvious like vampires or pixies or even googlies.  

There was no way it had been a Batibat, they had lived in the same house since they had been young so no tree spirit would hurt his sister. There’s no way it would be a Liderc, he hadn’t seen his sister around anyone besides himself so there was no way she had the dream vampire sucking her life away.

His sister had never complained of nightmares, although after last summer she never really spoke of her dreams very much so when they had the page for the Dab Tsog pinned to their current list of possibilities. That led into their current prime subject, the Baku.

The dream eater tended to eat hopes and motivation of a dreamer with the dreams but the only issue was she had never said the creature’s name. Sure she had woken up with the start of a B name on her lips but according to all the text he found she would have said its full name…not to mention they were in the wrong part of the world for it.

As for non-supernatural issues the doctors in Piedmont weren’t getting very far either. They had ruled out all food issues, or even poisoning. She had such flu like issues they were stumped when her toxicology report came back negative. Dipper had already known it would be clean, after her Smile Dip episode ages ago she had sworn off anything that could do that to her again.

They had even gone as far to check if she had been hypnotized or cursed. Much to his mother’s confusion she had held the phone next to Mabel’s ear as Dipper whispered key words to her, hoping it would snap her from her trance.

He sniffled; lifting his head from his arms he rubbed the heel of his hands against his eyes to wipe the tears away. Sure Stan kept an optimistic outlook, for each diagnostic they crossed off their list it left fewer for her to actually have.

Stan always had a positive outlook when it came to Mabel though, he was sure his little girl would be up and swinging before the end of the summer. No one could tell him otherwise unless they wanted to face a black eye.

He reached down by his feet pulling a tattered blue notebook back onto the table and opening it once again. A list of his sisters’ conditions stared up towards him and desperation swept across him. It felt like ages ago when he started the list, now it was just a reminder of the danger his sister was in.

In a month he would be 15, they should be excited about the prospect of driving soon. Well legally at least but Stan made it clear no one was supposed to know that it was actually them driving that one time…

Instead of celebrating with Mabel he was still trying desperately to find out what was wrong with her and according to his parents nothing had changed. He just wanted his sister…

A loud thud across from him caused the boy to screech sending his notebook flying back onto the floor as he attempted to sweep it closed.

“G-Gre-” he cleared his throat, red coloring his neck in embarrassment from the crack of his voice. He was 14 after all, and while it was happening less and less it was still occurring.

“Great Uncle Ford?” Lifting his gaze completely to his grunkle he shrunk back into the chair and away from the stare he was receiving. Dropping his gaze quickly he brought the 4th of his grunkles journal into view before looking curiously back at Ford.

“Dipper. You need to be completely honest with me.”

Dipper swallowed the lump blocking his throat as Ford lowered himself down to sit across from his nephew. Nodding his head to agree with his grunkle, Ford let a long sigh pass his lips pushing the 4th journal towards Dipper.

“Open it to where I’ve marked it.”

Scrambling forward his hands quickly pulled the book towards him making sure he was quick about it so he didn’t anger Ford more then he already was. Flipping the journal open Dippers fingers dug into the top slicing the paper to where the piece of cloth sat parting the book.

He had to look away from the glittery designs he immediately knew his sister had added to his grunkles journal. It was very hard for the teenager to look at and it only caused the list of questions he had to grow tenfold. It wasn’t the fact that she had used gel pens and four pounds of glitter, it was what she had drawn on the pages.

To say Ford was upset was an understatement. He was furious. He was shocked. He was outraged. Worst of all? He was hurt.  He had been betrayed before, Bill’s betrayal still left a foul taste in his mouth but this…even though he had felt it before it didn’t prepare him for this.

He had seen the page long before this summer had begun, he had actually seen it soon after the teens had left for Piedmont during one of his outings. He didn’t want to bring it up at that time. Not over the phone. Not where someone else could hear his words. Not where he couldn’t see Mabel’s expressions and where he would be able to tell if she was lying.

So he waited patiently until the twins would return, that was, until Mabel fell ill. The journal he had left on his desk to ask his niece about was shoved into a corner and forgotten as he frantically searched for a cure in his older journals to her mysterious illness.

Now he sat across from Dipper, his six fingers thrumming across the table in irritation as he waited for Dipper to look back at the page. He had remembered the journal during one of his midnight terrors, Bill’s voice echoing from everywhere around him, asking him for the journals.

When he awoke he found solace that his 4th journal was still on his desk hidden under other papers. Until he remembered the page he bookmarked months ago.

The large, glittery, pink shooting star in the corner of the page told him all he needed to know. Not that he couldn’t figure out who had drawn the visage based off the handwriting, and mass quantities of glitter on the page.

“Why would Mabel do something like this?”

Dipper pulled trembling hands into his lap as his eyes roamed the page. She had drawn doodles of Bill with odd sayings surrounding the one eyed demon. If he wasn’t sitting across from  his scathing grunkle he probably would have found the Bill with a flower crown funny.

 He flipped a few pages before his sister’s addition and frowned. Based off of what his grunkle had added before it, it was obvious this page had been added sometime last summer. The page on the googlies was in here as was the page on the Shellycoat and Leshy his grunkle had told him about upon discovery.

“I don’t…”

Ford reached across the table his six fingered hand slamming on top of the journal before he let out a long sigh and pinched the bridge of his nose. Dipper removed his hands from the book placing them back in his lap to avoid his grunkles reach.

“Dipper… Is there any way she could have made a deal with Bill?”

He let a small laugh out and shook his head. He knew his sister, and while her art skills were unnaturally good they weren’t demon granted good. He waved his hand over the journal his grunkles hands still rested on.

“No, only for eternal summer and I mean…”

He let out a shallow laugh scratching the back of his neck at his attempt to get his grunkle to laugh. It hadn’t worked and now he was afraid Ford was just more paranoid of his sister.

“This happened last summer right? Bill had been gone for a year, there’s no way for her to even make a deal. You, uh, you didn’t even have this journal until last summer right?”

Ford was eerily quiet while Dipper rambled his thought process. Dipper was unfortunately right. Ford had only brought that journal out after he and his brother had left on the Stan O’War so there was no way for Mabel to have gotten access to it until last summer.

Why had she drawn such a thing in his journal though? Mabel had never found Bill to be amusing, she had been pissed when he had teamed up with Gideon to go into her grunkles mind. She had been furious when Bill had taken over Dipper’s body during her sock opera.

During Weirdmageddon she had readily dove in to fight Bill once she had been removed from her bubble. Sure, they had to persuade her out but she had been scared and once her eyes had been opened she was ready.

“Dipper…”

He sighed before pulling out another journal from within his jacket. Unlike the 4 emblazoned with his signature 6 fingered hand, this one was different. A faded yellow cover, falling apart at the more so then his other journals and a clean black triangle centered on the front with a large number 2 painted in the middle.

It gave Dipper an uncomfortable feeling to look at the journal his grunkle was showing him and he knew just from the look on Ford’s face he was uncomfortable as well. The older male didn’t slide the entire journal over like he had earlier; he slid it a few inches before bringing it back before him.

Gripping the book as tight as he could for a few moments he let out a deep breath opening the journal and flipping through the worn pages for a specific entry. Dipper watched as his jaw tightened flipping rapidly through a few of the pages and he decided it was best not to voice his confusion.

His hands froze when he apparently found the right page and the room fell silent. Dipper didn’t dare say anything to his grunkle allowing the older Pine to take his time. Sliding the journal around his white knuckle grip eased and he allowed Dipper to take the book.

It was hard for Dipper to focus on the page at first; the clashing handwriting that sprawled across the page was a bit difficult to follow. He could easily pick up on Ford’s handwriting; it was a bit more rushed like some of the pages in the journal he had memorized during that fateful summer, but definitely his handwriting.

The other handwriting was…odd? Was that the best word he could come up with? It looked like Ford’s but like he was trying to write in the opposite hand. It was jagged and sharp, triangular letters, very flat compared to Ford’s typical expression filled writing.

Ignoring who could have possibly writing the words he focused on what they were saying instead. Ford would offer up his knowledge in good time, there was no use getting frustrated when the answers were before him.

A frown tugged on his lips as he began to read the passage and Dipper’s hands dug into the leather bound journal his grip tightening as he read each letter.

> _To further our research Fiddleford and I have decided to venture to a small town in Kentucky worried about a portal to hell inside a local roadside bar and music venue.  
>    
>  Once we passed the Oregon State lines I began to feel ill.   
>  T_ _he further we went the quieter Bill grew until just as we were to reach_  
>  the border between Idaho and Wyoming Bill let out a final warning.   
>    
>  If I leave Gravity Falls with him inhabiting me.  
>  I will die. 
> 
> _Fiddleford was quick to turn around_  
>  so Bill could exit my mind back in Gravity Falls before heading out again.  
>    
> I must look into removing the barrier that keeps Bill from leaving.  
>  His knowledge could help us on our travels. 

Dipper glanced over the writing the other hand had placed, words and phrases were harshly scrawled on top and it was then Dipper recognized whose hand it was in.

Bill had scrawled over the page, no doubt in Ford’s body. There were two phrases that forced Dipper to drop the book in realization.

> **_Your mind can’t be in two places at once  
>  I’m your mind and I can’t leave Gravity Falls_ **

It made sense now. Dipper understood what had happened to his Grunkle. Bill knew that he wouldn’t be able to leave Gravity Falls without a physical form of his own. Although Bill found out much to the triangles displeasure that even with a physical form he couldn’t leave.

So if Bill was sharing his mind with, his sister, then she would only get sicker and sicker the longer she was away from Gravity Falls…much like what had happened to Ford all those years ago.

“So…”

Ford cleared his throat cutting Dipper’s question short. Lowering the book back to the table he placed shaking hands in his lap his stomach churning at the confusion racking his body.

“I fear…well Dipper... I fear this is what’s conflicting Mabel.”

He waved a six fingered and over the forgotten red journal before retrieving the yellow journal from in front of Dipper and stashing it within his jacket. Once it was hidden out of sight he flipped the red journal open once more pointing to her drawings.

“I fear somehow Bill has tricked her into giving him a mental domain. I truly believe once we return her to Gravity Falls she’ll awaken and then we can figure out what deal she made and break her free from Bill’s grasp.”

Dipper shoved his hands into his vest pockets frantically searching for once last pen. He needed something to chew on before he ground his teeth into dust. While he found no pen he found a lone cap and slipped the thin plastic into his mouth to gnaw on.

His grunkle made a good point, according to the notes he had been able to skim over on the opposite page a lot of the symptoms he had experienced were very similar to what Mabel was currently going through.

There was still one blaring error with Ford’s synopsis and that was how Mabel had struck a deal to begin with. Was it something they had made in Mabel’s dreamland? Was it a deal they made summers ago?

He felt the plastic crack under his teeth but continued to gnaw at the cheap piece anyway. It calmed his nerves just enough to keep him from freaking out, though at the moment it was doing nothing to prevent him from freaking out.

“E-Even if this is what’s wrong…how are we going to convince my parents to let Mabel come to Gravity Falls? I-I-I mean they would never let her leave the hospital in her condition and-”

Dipper trailed off upon the realization that Ford wasn’t looking at him anymore but looking towards th doorway to the living room with a large grin on his face. Twisting in his seat Dipper’s frown slowly grew into a large grin upon spying Stan leaning in the doorway.

“That’s where I come in kid.”


	18. Breakout

“Okay yeah I get that part but” Dipper gripped his seatbelt as Stan ran over… _something_ …that caused the boy to launch a few inches out of his seat. He always knew his grunkle was a bad driver but when he was going over 100 mph it felt much, much worse. How they had yet to be pulled over was just another mystery to add to his list.

“ _How_ are we going to get her out? I mean my parents aren’t going to just let us wheel her out of the hospital!”

Stan let out a laugh as he swerved sharply to the left sending Dipper flailing in his seat. Tugging on his seat belt he tried to tighten the strap to keep him from bouncing around as much. Ford twisted his head to try and pull his nephew into view, a rather hard task with his brother swerving all over the road as they raced towards California.

“Well Dipper, that’s where you come in…you’ll ask for time alone with your sister while Stanley here talks to your parents in…I’m assuming there’s a waiting room nearby?”

Dipper nodded to his grunkle answering his question. Ford lifted his hand to his chin rubbing it as he continued his thought process. They hadn’t really have had time to talk through the plan completely before Stan was in the car blaring the horn to get the two moving.  

“If Stanley can get them that far away I’ll be able to slip in and help you unhook her monitors without setting off any alarms. Once we get her unhooked we’ll take her out.”

Dipper frowned as Stan swerved up an on ramp now barreling down the highway the street lights flashed the inside of the vehicle in an eerie glow. Apparently now that they were on a straightaway Stan thought he could go even faster despite the speed limit signs flashing as they drove by.

“I mean…the staff isn’t just going to let us wheel her out of there…”

Ford laughed winking at his nephew before turning around to continue helping Stan navigate the roads.  Despite the fact the younger twin had worse night vision he was adamant that he could drive faster than Ford and refused to let him drive.

Dipper fell silent in the backseat as he pondered how well their plan would work…and what would happen once they got her back to Gravity Falls.

_IF,_ and he used that word lightly, Mabel was having problems because of Bill what would happen once she woke up back in Gravity Falls? How were they going to help her, if erasing Stan’s mind hadn’t worked he wasn’t about to risk Mabel’s identity to try again.

What if she didn’t wake up once they returned to the Falls, what if she stayed sleeping…what if they made her worse because they took her out of the hospital?

He twisted in his seat tempted to press his forehead against the cool glass but too afraid to try do to the erratic nature of his grunkles driving. He’d rather not get a concussion before they had even attempted their plan.

He wondered if he should just be honest with his parents. If he sat them down and explained everything that had happened from that summer up until now… He sighed dropping his forehead into his hand. His parent’s not only would prohibit Mabel from going but he would never be allowed to see his grunkles again.

Groaning he lifted his head slightly rubbing his forehead in frustration. No there was no other way to do this, they would have to sneak his sister out of the hospital and then race her back to Oregon before his parents could catch them.

“Don’t worry, we’ll get her ba-”  
“STANLEY KEEP YOUR EYES ON THE ROAD”

Stan wheeled around to stare back out the windshield jerking the car to the right and away from the concrete barrier separating the highway lanes. His loud laughter filled the car and even from the backseat Dipper could see Ford’s grip on the handle above his window his knuckles whitening with each passing light.

“You’ll need to take the next exit and keep right on the ramp.”

Stan nodded, falling silent he dove across the highway lanes ignoring the other traffic as he bailed out on the off ramp towards the hospital. Slamming on the brakes he slid down the ramp and onto the smaller street before taking off again.

Thankfully since they had been driving nonstop it was still too early in the morning for heavy work traffic. Dipper shuddered as he thought about Stan driving the way he currently was during rush hour. Lifting his gaze to the car roof he thanked whoever was listening for keeping the roads mainly empty.

Now that he was on smaller streets and more noticeable Stan slowed down to a more reasonable pace, he didn’t want to get pulled over, he couldn’t remember if he had been officially banned in California or not. He was pretty confident that California was safe but he really didn’t want to take the risk.

The lights from the hospital loomed into view and Dipper rubbed his palms on his shorts trying to dry them. He just had to remember to stay confident, his parents would see straight through him if he was acting too strange. Taking a deep breath he brought his hands to his head tugging his hat down tighter in determination. This was for Mabel.

Sliding into a handicap spot near the front Stan turned off the car turning towards his brother waving his finger towards the glove box.

“Oi Sixer get me the thing.”

Ford blinked a few times before opening the glove box and groaning. Tugging a blue handicap placard from inside, he stared down at the thin plastic for a few moments.

“Stanley…it’s been expired for 7 years…”

Laughing the young twin stretched over and began peeling at the tape placed over the expiration area. Pulling up the tape the date came with it allowing Stan to replace some clear tape and rewrite the expiration for a current date.

“I ain’t gonna pay to get it renewed. I stole this from Blubs’ car when he wasn’t looking. Plus they stopped fining me for parking in spots years ago…at least back home they did.”

His grunkle snickered as he hung the plastic from his rear view mirror. He knew he probably had enough unpaid parking tickets here for them to boot his car; he wasn’t going to take that risk since this was their getaway vehicle.

All three men took a minute to get out of the vehicle, they had been driving for far too long for their legs and if Dipper’s hurt he could only imagine what his grunkles' legs felt like. Standing outside in silence for a few moments they all waited for each other to stretch out and wake up before with a final nod from Ford the three moved into the hospital.

There was one thing they hadn’t thought of though.

“Well, I’m sorry sir but visiting hours are over. You can come back tomorrow morning.”

Stan’s fists clenched as he listened to the poor woman on the other side of the desk. They hadn’t thought about visiting hours. Dipper had always been allowed to stay by his sister’s side he had never been asked to leave or come back at a different time so he had never really questioned the three of them getting up to his sister.

Sliding forward he tugged on his grunkle’s arm and although Mabel was the queen of puppy dog eyes she had taught him a thing or two about it.

“D…does this mean I can’t say goodbye to my sister before we leave?”

He twisted his head towards the nurse his hand tugging on Stan’s sleeve a few times before looking away from the receptionist and up towards the older man who Dipper could tell was trying to hide his grin.

“I’m sorry Dipper…You’ll just have to wait until next year when we get back…”

Under the counter and out of the receptionists view Stan slammed the heel of his foot into Dippers and the boy let out a yelp tears pricking his eyes as the pain flooded his system.

“Oh it’s okay boy…I’m sure she’s gonna be just fine.”

He shot the woman a seething look as Dipper doubled over from the pain of Stan twisting his heel. Ford stepped forward blocking them from view and dropped his voice to a hushed tone leaning over the counter as Stan dropped down to check and make sure Dipper wasn’t hurt too badly.

“Listen, he’s going overseas for school tomorrow morning, we got held up today making sure all the arrangements were final. Can’t we sneak up for a few minutes so he can say good bye?”

The woman swallowed thickly before glancing over to her coworker down the desk from her. The older woman nodded and the receptionist let a sad smile cross her face as she stood up trying to pull Dipper back into view.

“It’s okay hunny, I’ll let you see your sister but you have to be quiet okay?”

Stan stepped back from Dipper as the teen smiled from ear to ear. Stepping as carefully as he could towards the woman as to not give away his new limp he took her extended hand in his.

“Thank you! Still room 602?”

The woman nodded and Stan’s hand landed on his back gripping his collar to lift him as sneakily as he could to help the boy walk down the hall and through the now unlocked doors towards the elevator. They had successfully moved past one hurdle now they just had 100 more to work through.

Stepping into the elevator Stan released Dipper’s collar laughing as he clapped the boy on the back. Ford joining in on his laughter as he clapped a few times. Both showered the young boy in praises on his acting skills and Dipper couldn’t help but feel a bit embarrassed.

Mabel was normally the one who could get what she wanted; he had simply mimicked what he had seen Mabel do so often when they were younger. He was thankful it had worked, and thankful the woman wasn’t sterner. Even the great Mabel had been shut down by old ladies sticking too closely to the rules before.

The elevator let out a soft chime as the doors slid open and the trio stepped out into the deathly quiet hallway. The soft chirps coming from the monitors echoing from inside the rooms around them was the only sign that life was present on the floor.

Dipper twisted around the corner and headed towards the room where the soft white glow was coming from. Apparently one of his parents was indeed here, and awake.

Ford slipped off to the side, sliding into the room next to Mabel’s as he cracked the door allowing himself to stay hidden while being able to hear when the room next door was empty. With the genius hidden the remaining two stood outside Mabel’s room as Dipper regained his composure.

He was sudden terrified again, anxious that something would go wrong. Fearful he wouldn’t be able to get the room alone and the plan would fall apart. Terrified to see his sister after all his failures to wake her up… Stan’s hand squeezing his shoulder brought him from his mind and he sighed. His family was here with him, they could do this together.

He knocked twice on the door before he opened it pulling his father into view sitting in a chair next to his sister watching some crime drama with the subtitles on. Dipper could see the shock recognizable on his father’s face to see not only his son but his uncle standing in the doorway.

“What brings you two here?” The deep voice of his father rumbled through the quiet room and Dipper could see his computer set up beside him on a small table. He wondered briefly if his father had been working from in here to keep an eye on Mabel.

“Welp, Dipper here just missed his sister. Figured we’d come visit.”

His father narrowed his eyes as he pulled his small glasses from his face setting them next to his open computer. Crossing his arms he stared at the two men in silence for a moment before standing up and moving towards them.

“So you made your great uncle drive down here at three in the morning because you missed Mabel?”

Dipper swallowed hard as he moved to take a step back only to find himself unable too with Stan behind him. His large hand resumed its position on his shoulder to reassure the young boy once again.

He flashed back to the talk he had with Stan when they had been wandering around his mind. He had spent the time toughening Dipper up so when the world swung…he swung back.

“Yeah…I, uhm, I”

Dipper stopped himself, he wasn’t going to use the excuse that he had a bad dream; his father would only ridicule him even more. ‘There are phones for a reason’ he could hear his father now.

“I wanted to come see the punk anyway. It’s awfully quiet at the shack without her around. We thought about bringing Waddles, figured that would cheer her up.”

Stan let out a laugh as he clapped Dipper on the shoulder before shrugging his own and stepping forward to extend his hand towards the man.

“It’s been a while since I’ve seen you too; phone calls just don’t do it anymore.”

Dipper’s father stayed silent for a moment before finally uncrossing his arms and taking his uncle’s hand in his own. He could dispute what Stan was saying easily, but the Pines family were raised not to question elders and his father was no different. He wouldn’t question Shermy’s brother; he was supposed to be a genius after all.

“Hey, why don’t we go somewhere and catch up? Let the kid have some time with his sister?”

His father simply glanced from Stan towards himself before moving to follow his uncle out the door leaving Dipper alone in the quiet room. He was still, listening to the sound of his sister breathing and the soft chirps mocking him as they echoed through the room.

He shuffled forward lowering himself to sit in the chair his father just left from as he stared at his sister. She was thinner then when he had last seen her, her hair had grown longer it currently sat in two braids twisted over her shoulders no doubt to keep it out of the way.

Dipper stretched his hand out wrapping it around his sister’s. He didn’t know what to say to her, he wanted to tell her about all the research they had done and how they were going to take her. He wanted to tell her about how Pacifica had come over and would help them while they researched.

How Soos and Melody had moved into Soos’ old house, how his abuelita had gone to heaven with the angels and according to Soos not his grandpa. He remembered how happy Soos was that she at least fulfilled her dream of seeing Soos and Melody get married. There was no ceremony, both had agreed there wouldn’t be until Mabel woke up but the papers were signed.  

He stayed silent though, his tongue glued to his suddenly sticky mouth. He wanted to tell her all these things when she could respond, act like how she was supposed to act. His grip on her hand tightened as her head rolled in his direction.

He had to remember that it was normal. She moved constantly, would make little noises that doctors said were common. He couldn’t expect her to be reacting to him, it was just her body moving…but…

Her eyes were open. Staring straight at him. Bright yellow eyes.

**_PINETREE_ **

Dipper yanked his hand from his sisters grip as he stumbled backwards and crashed to the floor with a yelp.  The door slid open as Ford finally entered the room rushing forward to help his nephew up from the twisted mess he had caught himself in.  

“Dipper?”

He twisted his head towards his grunkle before raising a shaking hand to point at his sister. Moving to stare back at his sister his jaw dropped. Her head was upright once more and her eyes were completely closed.

“She-but-I-and”

Dipper shook his head accepting his grunkles help to stand and fixed the chair he had knocked over in the process. Still trembling he stared at his sister in horror. What had he just witnessed? Had his sister actually moved? Had he actually heard Bill’s voice?

There was a more logical explanation though as his brain finally calmed down and began processing what had happened. Seeing as how Ford wouldn’t have waited that long to enter the room once his brother had left in fear of a quick return and how long it had felt to him...maybe he had dozed off?

He hadn’t been sleeping well, being forced to bed by either Stan or Ford before the boy would pass out while working. He had taken up doing tours with Soos just to keep his mind off his sister for a few moments, hoping that when he came back with fresh eyes he’d see something new.

After an exhausting and horrifying drive from Oregon to the hospital and the constant thought of Bill during the entire drive his mind must have just made it up. He wanted her to move more than anything and was fearful that Bill was inside of her, his tired brain must have made it up…right?

_“Dipper!”_

Ford’s hissing whisper snapped him from his thoughts and he nearly choked on his spit when he saw how far his grunkle had moved. His dream scenario of what he had seen was starting to sound more believable with how often he was finding himself drifting off.

Moving forward he held the screen steady as Ford slipped behind the heart monitor and began messing with the back of the machine. With a low pitched whine the machine resumed its beeping and Ford came back around to the front.

“What an easy machine, I’m surprised hospitals here don’t have higher tech yet…”

He made a noise Dipper didn’t know what to make of before he moved towards Mabel unhooking her from the monitors and IVs. Dipper moved to the other side of his sister helping to remove the wires and straps holding her down.

Once she was free Ford shifted and pulled his trench coat from his shoulders revealing a rather odd harness system attached to his chest. It reminded Dipper of the carrier Mabel had bought for Waddles…oh no.

“Grunkle Ford uh, that’s not for Mabel is it?”

Ford simply laughed before hoisting Mabel up as gently as he could and sliding the girl into the harness with her chest facing his. His hands were quick as he worked the several straps to attach her more securely into the harness.

“Dipper I need you to strap her legs up.”

Dipper stared dumbfounded at the man across from him, did he really think that this was going to work? This was their great idea? Throwing his hands up in defeat he walked around to help Ford. He found foot holds on straps attached to his legs and Dipper had to bite his tongue to keep from laughing as he imagined Ford testing the device.

“Wait…Grunkle Ford how did you know this would fit her?”

Ford blinked down at Dipper as he shrugged his jacket on beginning to button it up as he moved his legs to make sure Dipper had strapped Mabel in well enough.

“Oh, your little blonde friend helped.”

Now Dipper couldn’t help but laugh as he imagined Ford propositioning Pacifica with his idea, not only that but Pacifica thinking it was a _good_ idea and willingly helping the mad scientist. Oh he had blackmail on her before but nothing quite like this; she was definitely going to hear about this as soon as they got back.

Once his jacket was completely buttoned Dipper had to admit it wasn’t too outrageous. By no means did it look natural but at least it wasn’t completely obvious that they were sneaking his sister out. Now they just had to get out, and quickly.

“Dipper, quickly, go get Stan while I call up the elevator.”

Nodding the teen slipped out and towards the waiting room where he knew they would be talking. He paused outside the room his breath hitched as he listened to the odd noise coming from within. Was that _his_ father… _laughing!?_ He hadn’t heard his father laugh since Mabel had fallen ill.

He silently slid into the room shocked as his father turned towards him still smiling. Both men stood as Dipper entered the room and Stan reached out shaking hands with him once more.

“Well Stanford it was nice to see you again.”

It had been almost three years since Dipper had found out the secret about Stan and Ford, he had almost forgotten that to the rest of the family…to the rest of the world Stanley was dead and this man, was Stanford.

Stepping forward he extended his hand to shake his father’s per normal but was surprised to find his father wrapping his arms around him instead. He stiffened waiting for his reaction before wrapping his arms around his father’s chest.

The two parted and Dipper followed Stan towards the elevators where they knew Ford would be waiting, although by now he had probably gone down and was standing near them in the lobby just in case. As they rounded the corner to the elevator to part Dipper turned towards his father an idea sparking in his head.

“Oh, one of the nurses came and took Mabel.”

His father’s eyes narrowed as he twisted his head towards his daughter’s room. Before he could move Dipper cleared his throat and continued with his idea, praying that it would buy them time.

“She…she…” Dipper’s hand waved over the front of his pants too embarrassed to lie that his sister had wet herself. That was embarrassing just for him to think about let alone say. His father apparently didn’t need anything else said before he nodded his head.

“I’m glad they understood our talk after they waited until morning to clean her last time.”

Dipper heard Stan exhale a breath neither realized he had been holding before the three men shook hands once more and Stan and Dipper entered the elevator to return to the lobby. Once the doors slid shut Dipper twisted to look up towards Stan.

“Ya know… my dad hasn’t paid attention to me since Mabel got sick…”

Stan shrugged before adjusting his string tie to sit right around his neck.

“I just told him he should appreciate the time he has with you before he regrets it.”

Dipper was quiet for the rest of the elevator ride. Stan would know what that was like better than anyone, he had been unable to say goodbye to his family. He wondered how his great-grandpa had handled it when ‘Stanley’ had died. Did he regret not spending more time with him?

They quietly made their way to the car where he could see Ford in the driver seat and Mabel strapped into the back seat. Stan grumbled something along the lines of ‘now we won’t get home ‘till next week’ before climbing into the passenger side of the car.

Dipper climbed into the backseat next to his sister before sliding to the middle seat. Once buckled he leaned over and pulled his sister until her head rested on his shoulder like it always did when she fell asleep on car rides. Once she was set up right Dipper leaned his head against hers and fell asleep.

For the first time since she had fallen ill, Dipper slept peacefully.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello Peaches.  
> I wanted to make sure that I thanked you.   
> So thank you.   
> Thank you to every single person who has read or is reading my story.   
> I can't express how much your love and support for my story means.   
> Now don't worry I'm not ending the story  
> I couldn't do that to you guys!  
> I also apologize for any bad grammar or spelling haha!  
> I don't have a beta (well I do but she's a slow reader so I find out my mistakes afterwards)  
> So if you do find something please let me know and I'll adjust it!  
> I love reading every comment on my stories and the ideas you guys have are amazing!  
> I look forward to reading more from you guys!  
> Keep an eye out, I'll be silent for the next couple days but Mabel will be awake soon!  
> (If I have time I'll squeeze another chapter in while I can!)


	19. Living the dream life.

Just how long had it been since she had returned to Gravity Falls?

Staring at her hands she furrowed her brow. Surely it had to have been years, her brace free smile, her shorter hair, her aged body it all indicated that some time had passed since then.

Lifting her gaze she brought the area around her into view. She had settled on the couch on the back porch after a very long and tiring day and there was nothing she wanted more than to have a drink and relax. She stared at the Pitt Cola can sitting by the couch and let out a dry laugh.

How naive she had been as a child to think that her grunkle just enjoyed soda, she had found out as she grew older and he switched from cola to beer that he had drank the bitter drink the entire time. He just didn’t want to do it around them as children so he hid it.

She lowered her face into her hands hiding the world from view for a few moments. She didn’t know what she was going to do now, she hadn’t thought this far ahead. There was nowhere else she wanted to be so she might as well stay in Gravity Falls.

Although no one could have guessed the way, everyone was in agreement that at least they went together. Dipper had been unable to make it, his ghost hunting business had exploded and he was currently investigating a place in Louisiana with Pacifica and their twins tagging along.

The only family she had left was her parents and they only knew what had happened. They were never told the date to attend, they had to keep up the fact that there was only one Stan after all.

So after shooing Soos and Melody and their children away assuring them that she would be fine she was finally on her own since she had received the news from the Sheriff. Well, not exactly alone… as if on cue Bill came floating out from the gift shop and lowered himself onto the couch next to her.

He didn’t greet her, unlike his normal self; she wondered if he could feel the pain she was going through. As much as she knew he would enjoy it he also knew not to mess with her on things like that. She had ignored him before successfully for 3 weeks before he promised not to tease her about touchy subjects.

He hated being ignored more then she hated being teased.

So they sat in silence for a while. He sat next to her, just a slightly bigger version of what he always was. His feet still dangled off the couch, he liked to swing them when he was bored or when she was knitting. His small hand twisted over towards hers and she took his and held it like it was her only lifeline to her world.

She had made a deal with him so many years ago. She would get him to the physical plane only if he promised not to start another Weirdmageddon or hurt anyone. It took him a year before he agreed to her demands.

So with the help of the copies Stan had made of the journals all those years ago she slowly began rebuilding the portal in the basement. Ford and Stan were rarely around anymore, always off on their own adventures so she always had the shack to herself. When they did come home they never cared to go to the basement. Ford had moved all of his experiments so there was no reason for them to go down there.

She had opened the portal, he had stepped through and they had been living together since.  It was odd at first; he insisted that he follow her everywhere she went stating he had already done it before.

She had to reason with him to at least make himself be less noticeable as to not send the town into a panic. So he would shrink down, small enough to fit into her purse or bag and would travel with her wherever she went.

She was thankful the citizens of Gravity Falls still turned a blind eye whenever they found something weird. Whenever she caught him peeking out from the bag no one else seemed to care, or want to care, to point it out so she let it happen.

Over the course of a few months he finally got sick of the bag and started just following her around despite her protests. No one cared or if they did they couldn’t say anything about it. The Never Mind All That Act made it so no one could confront Bill without the fear of Blubbs or Durland using their Taser on them, so everyone just went on with life as normal.

**So…?**

Mabel sighed twisting her head to look at the large eye staring unblinkingly towards her. She let a small smile curl her lips as she nodded squeezing Bill’s hand.

“Well, until the Stan O’War is found I’ll always believe they’re alive.”

Bill’s laughter echoed around them and he closed her eyes content with the cackling noise. There were times she couldn’t understand how her younger self found the noise annoying, it was calming to her now.

“People disappear all the time in the Bermuda Triangle.”

She let go of his hand despite his iron grip and turned to face him on the couch. She narrowed her eyes as she curled all but her index finger moving to jab him in the top point with said finger.

“Plus you would know if two of your zodiac members died and you haven’t said anything yet.”

She pulled her hands back into her lap her head dropping to stare where her hands now lie limp. Despite the fact she had pulled her hand from his grip earlier his fingers found hers once more and they wrapped around each other seamlessly from years of practice.

“Even…even if you can’t feel them…don’t tell me. I need to keep hoping.”

They fell into silence again before a small rumble shook the floor of the shack. Mabel blinked in confusion as she looked around the area watching as the totem on her lawn wobbled lazily in the aftermath.

“An earthquake?”

Sure Oregon got earthquakes, she knew that much. They were always small though, never big enough to actually feel. The few that were big enough would barely shake the water in a glass and that only happened a few times a month. It was uncommon, at least in Gravity Falls, something like this had to be supernatural.

She frowned as she turned her attention towards Bill. His gaze was locked onto the woods his eye wide as it rapidly flashed with different pictures. Mabel squinted as she tried to tell what was being shown to her but it was moving much too fast for her to recognize.

The ground rumbled again this time much more severe and she moved to stand her body falling back down onto the couch when Bill’s grip on her hand remained steadfast. She tugged on his hand trying to untwist her fingers from his and get out from underneath the porch in case it collapsed.

“Bill…Bill you need to let go!”

Her partner said nothing though and the woman felt panic settle in her gut. He hadn’t acted like this in such a long time she couldn’t remember what she was supposed to do to help him out of the trance he had found himself stuck in.

Another earthquake hit the shack but this time the rumbling continued and Mabel felt fear squirming in her stomach. Still desperately trying to get her grip from Bill’s hand she watched as the totem careened over and fell to the ground bursting into splinters.

“Oh for- are you kidding me!”

Standing the best she could she twisted around and wedged her other hand as far as she could around the triangle. When she felt she had the best grip she was going to get she heaved the triangle up and stumbled backwards off of the shack porch before tumbling to the ground right as the porch roof caved in.

She hated that Bill enjoyed having a heavier weight; he purposely did it so if she decided to pick him up she would be unable too. Oh she hated the triangle sometimes.

Crumpled in the grass lying on top of the spaced out demon Mabel watched as the ground below her continued to seize. Trees were beginning to topple and as each one hit the forest floor she watched in horror as they splintered into thousands of pieces before drifting up and into the sky.

Her jaw dropped as she pulled what had been a twilight sky back to the main focus of her attention. The painted sky looked like a mirror that had been shattered. Thousands of lines jagged across the sky and she watched as pieces of everything shattering floated up and into the cracks in the sky.

Another earthquake and she felt her body lift off Bill’s for a moment before she came crashing down on top of him. She closed her eyes as she lowered her head pressing her forehead against where his would be.

The world around her lurched one final time before silence permeated the area. She held her breath as she waited for something else to happen around her. There was nothing she could hear. No birds, insects, even the wind in the trees had silenced. She should hear the crackling of trees still, or at least the sirens from town.

She slowly opened her eyes, her vision flooding with white light and a very yellow triangle. His eye had stopped flashing, the black slit of his pupil focused directly on the girl above him. Now that he was finally awake his grip on her hand released and allowed her to pull herself up and away from the dream demon.

White surrounded her. There were no trees, or sky or ground around her there was simply just white. There was no definition between anything, the emptiness just stretched for as far as she could see. Pushing herself completely up the older woman wrapped her arms around her chest holding herself.

Bill moved from the ground to hover besides the girl his cane materializing in his hand as he spun it lazily in his hand. Both stayed silent for a few moments turning to survey the area around them before freezing on the sight of a rather large crack in the sky.

“Bill…”

The demon floated a bit closer to her, his hand once again finding hers as the two watched the crack grow and splinter large white pieces falling and crashing into the abyss below to show what oddly looked like a roof to a vehicle.

“I love you.”

She had returned to Gravity Falls following her successful school year her and Dipper had worked so hard for. With no reason to return to California except to visit she had lived decades in Gravity Falls, Bill by her side the entire time.

She had watched her brother grow, and he had twins now. Two blonde girls that followed in their parents footsteps to solve the unsolvable and looked just as fashionable as their mother while doing it. She had even watched them grow, now both adults she was growing near being a grauntie and she was looking forward to it every day.

It wasn’t planned for her to fall in love with her companion. They were just friends, and after a certain amount of time they changed the deal and Bill just never left. Standing here, at what she could only assume was the end of her life, the end of Gravity Falls as she knew it, and she realized what she felt for him.

The sky above them shattered and they watched as it fell together pieces of the white sky hurtling towards them. She heard it right before they were hit.

**“Yeah kid. I guess I do too.”**

Her hold body shook, launched upwards a few inches before collapsing down the weight across her chest keeping her from flailing too far. Wrenching her eyes open light flooded her vision from all sides before her eyes dilated.

She couldn’t understand what she was looking at, or more, she couldn’t understand _how_ she was looking at it. She could hear muffled noises from around her, jerky movements tossing her slightly still even though she was awake.

Tattered white cloth stretched above her head, and if she moved slightly she could make out passing trees through glass. That could only mean she really was in a car. The noises began to sharpen, she could make out different people talking now instead of just a constant hum.

“Dad listen, _I don’t care,_ she’s not getting worse-well yeah-dad. Dad I have to go _because she’s waking up that’s why!”_

Mabel felt movement beside her before Dipper’s blurry face was brought into view. She felt bile crawling up her throat at the sight of her brother. He was so young. This wasn’t the Dipper she had watched grow old, fall in love, and become a father. She felt tears burn at the back of her minds as she took a shaky breath.

“Mabel, Mabel are you okay? Hold on alright? We’re about an hour away from Gravity Falls. You might be groggy till we get back to the shack okay? Do you need anything? Uh-”

She watched Dipper disappear from view and couldn’t stop the tears as the sound of her grunkles’ voices filled the car.

“She’s awake?”  
“Dipper make sure she’s secured properly.”  
“Pumpkin can you hear me!?”

Black spots blossomed across her vision as her brain rapidly worked to figure out what was going on. She didn’t understand, her grunkles had been lost at sea. Dipper wasn’t supposed to be here, where was Bill?

Dipper pulled back into view holding a water bottle and a wet towel. Pressing the small cloth to her head he held it there before helping his sister take a small amount of the liquid. Throwing the capped bottle onto the seat beside him when she was done he shifted to stare at her.

“Mabel…I’m glad you’re back.”

She felt her brother press himself against her and she wished she could have hugged him back. She wished she had the strength to lift her arms and hold her brother. To ask him why he looked so young again, how he had found Ford and Stan.

 To ask why she could feel her feet but why she wasn’t tall enough to touch the floor in the backseat anymore. Why she was apparently 15 again.

**“Shooting Star…at the shack. I’ll explain everything just…wait.”**

Mabel wanted to call out to him, ask why he sounded so distant. Why did he sound so muffled and lost? She felt his presence disappear from the forefront of her mind and just like all those summers ago she felt him plunge into the back of her mind where he had been locked away.

For the first time in almost 40 years…Bill wasn’t there by her side and she lost consciousness.


	20. Paranoia

Her legs swung slightly as she sat on the stiff yellow chair her arms resting on the poker table before her. Ford knelt before her, a strange machine in his hand passing over every inch of her body. He had explained what it was and what it was doing at least 3 times that Mabel could remember but she couldn’t actually remember what he had said.

She had been back in the shack for two days now. According to Dipper she had been asleep since her brief moments of awareness in the car on the way back from California. They had been fearful that she had slipped back into the coma but this morning she had woken up just like any other day and so the tests began.

Ford had been rather upset with the machines he had seen in the hospital and had brought up a few of his experiments and began to work on her.

Her eyes drifted towards the neon ‘H’ sign hanging on the wall across from her. She would have to ask her grunkles one day what the H meant…maybe it was something significant? She blinked staring at the flickering sign as Ford moved around her.

She was tired still, she figured after apparently sleeping for months she would be wide awake. Her body still felt so groggy though. Maybe it was because she was still adjusting?

She looked away from the sign and towards her hands covered in hot glue burns and crafting cuts. Her hands were so small now, they were so smooth.

It was nice to be 15 again…no wait, she was 14 right? Dipper had said something about their 15th in a few weeks. So 14 it was. Even though she was tired her joints didn’t ache, she could move without feeling stiff or sore. She had her long hair again, and her teeth felt so clean, her braces had apparently been removed sometime while she was out.

“Pumpkin, do you remember anything that happened?”

She snapped her head up, pulling Stan into view. He sat next to her his hand wrapped around a Pitt Cola can and she had to fight the smile at what she knew her grunkle was really drinking. She brought her lip into her mouth as she chewed on it curiously.

“Well…I…no? I mean I finished school right?”

She cocked her head to the side as she watched Stan and Ford exchange a look she couldn’t quite understand. She couldn’t really tell them what she remembered could she? Not that they would believe her anyway. Who would believe that she lived 40 years in…a few months?

“Mabel. Do you remember getting sick?”

She dropped her gaze to the table, studying the pattern of the grain as she thought back. There were years of memories she had to shift through and each one was just as painful as the one before it. A realization hit her and she tightened her fists tears burning in her eyes.

Dipper’s kids…they didn’t exist here. Odette…Odessa…they didn’t exist here. They were going to start families…she was going to be to their kids what Ford and Stan had been to her. She sniffled back the tears trying to fight the feelings bubbling up inside of her. That life didn’t exist, that life wasn’t real.

“Mabel.”

She jumped, lifting her head up she shook her head letting a small smile spread onto her lips.

“Oh sorry, I’m uh, still a little tired I guess?”

She choked on a laugh as she scratched the back of her neck with the hand Ford wasn’t currently poking with some bizarre device. She watched as Stan smiled reaching across to grab her hand with his empty one and squeezing it tightly. While she was thankful for the gesture it felt wrong. Stan’s hand was too big, too many fingers, too warm against her own hand.

She thought back to her final year of school in Piedmont, her best year of school due to the bet she made with her parents. The last two weeks were foggy, hazy, she remembered being ill throughout the school year. She had gone to the doctors a handful of times before the end of the year but she had gotten better right? It had just been the stress of keeping her grades up? The world around her spun and she bit back the bile crawling up her throat.

“I…got sick…I don’t think I took my finals did I?”

She frowned, it was confusing. There was a part of her that clearly remembered, well not acing, but passing her finals. There was another part of her hidden deep in the fog that was screaming at her she never finished school.

“Did I fail?”

Dipper’s laughter ricocheted through the room as he jumped down the small step and moved into the living room where the rest of his family was. He pocketed his cell phone and Mabel briefly wondered if he had been on the phone with their parents this whole time.

“I took them for you.”

Dipper shrugged as he lifted his hat adjusting his bangs before placing it back onto his head. She watched as Dipper’s face turned a dark shade of red and he dropped his voice murmuring his next sentence.

“They said you could come in after school since you were sick so I uh…well I mean you always liked dressing up and you were sick so they didn’t really question…”

A light flashed in her head and her grin slowly grew as her brother continued to mumble through what he was trying to say. Dipper had dressed up like her…

Ford jumped back as Mabel burst into loud laughter. She couldn’t stop the laughter that bubbled up in her throat at the thought of her brother no doubt taking her finals with one of her glitter pens just to seal the deal that he was in fact her.

“D-Did you shave? Or was that a side effect of my illness?”

She snorted as she pointed to the scraggly beard her brother had been trying to grow out the entire school year. He was apparently struggling still with the sight of only a few hairs sprouting from his chin.

“I wore a mask idiot.”

She broke into another fit of laughter as her mental image adjusted. She could almost see it, Dipper sitting awkwardly in one of her skirts and sweaters. He would be complaining about the fact that her skirt liked to ride up or her thigh highs would pull themselves down. He would hate that her clothes had a mind of their own.

He probably straightened his hair too, if he had done that it would be shoulder length and he could use the excuse the doctors cut it. With a mask over his face and a hair band in his hair no one would notice the slightly more muscular build of her brother.

Ford’s fist clenched as he watched Mabel laughing before him. Stanley was obviously too blinded by the joy of seeing his niece awake and healthy again that he didn’t hear what he was hearing. Dipper’s face was a mixture of emotions; no doubt he could hear it but didn’t want to acknowledge it.

Her laugh was husky, deep and rough from her vocal cords lack of use. Ford had missed it the first time she had laughed, caught off guard by the fact that she was laughing at all he hadn’t been examining the girl when it happened.

He could hear it now though.

Deep within her laughter dancing across the notes of his niece’s joy was the high pitched cackle that kept him up at night.

He shot his nephew a scathing look as realization dawned on his face and he saw the boy nod slightly towards him. At least his protégé understood what he was hearing. Dipper’s fist softly bumped her arm and she quieted her laughing to a soft set of giggles.

“Well, you seem to be physically healthy.”

Snapping the device he was holding closed Mabel let her smile grow while her brother beside her frowned. Thanking Ford a few times she turned to chat happily with Stanley, now that she had a clean bill of health she would be able to help with tours and get to go outside on the porch like he had promised.

Dipper shook his head; there was no way for them to be able to be completely sure that Bill was inside Mabel’s body. Just because there had been a weird sound when she had laughed didn’t mean that Bill was inside her.

His mind flashed rapidly back to the hospital where he was sure Mabel had looked over at him, had spoken to him in the voice that still made the hair on the back of his neck stand up. What if that hadn’t been a sleep deprived hallucination? What if he had indeed seen that?

There was no way to know for sure though…unless…

Ford must have thought of the same idea as he grabbed the items he had brought up from the lab and turned on his heel exiting the living room quickly. Lunging away from Mabel he jogged to catch up with Ford.

Too absorbed in their own conversation Mabel and Stan hadn’t noticed their siblings had left. Not that they would have minded too much anyway, now that Mabel was healthy what was stopping them from making up for lost time?

Dipper followed his grunkle silently to the vending machine and into the elevator before he finally let out a sigh. With his grunkle selecting the floor that only the two of them knew about there was no doubt in Dipper’s mind what Ford wanted to do. The only question was how would they go about doing it?

Stepping out of the elevator Ford dumped his armload onto one of the abandoned tables before moving towards the back of the small room where a large machine sat under a cloth. Gripping the white sheet he ripped it from the machine pulling Project Mentem into view.

Dipper swallowed the lump in his throat as he moved to stand besides Ford the man cast in the unearthly glow flickering from the machine Dipper had broken years ago. Slowly lowering his head Dipper made eye contact with Ford, his face sullen and Dipper knew Ford was just as nervous as he was about what they would find if they scanned Mabel’s brain.

“We’re going to need to be careful. Mabel can’t know about what we’re doing here. If Bill find’s out he might do something to prevent us from using the machine and protecting your sister.”

Dipper felt a wash of déjà vu as Ford turned away from him to walk further back into the room. This was so similar to what they had been doing with the rift. He hadn’t been allowed to tell his sister anything and that ultimately ended with Weirdmageddon.

If Bill really was inside her though Ford was right, he could simply make her run away or worse. Make a deal with Mabel.

Ford returned with a set of tools he no doubt had somewhere in the room buried under the triangle paraphernalia. Shaking Bill from his thoughts he moved forward grabbing a screwdriver as he began removing the screws to one of the cover plates his grunkle working above him. Lifting his head to his grunkle the two exchanged a solemn look before Ford smiled and nodded.

“Let’s get to work Dipper. We don’t have much time.”

Dipper returned his nod before diving back into his work. A small worry at the back of his mind eating away at his thoughts as he worked. Ford had always been a nervous type when it came to Bill. He had been so worried he had called his estranged brother to come and help him when he was in need but…that had ended so badly. His paranoia had caused a fight and that ultimately led to him being shoved through the portal.

What if…what if they were just being paranoid now? Like Ford had been all those years ago?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello Peaches,   
> sorry if this chapter's a bit choppy  
> I needed to push along a few things.   
> Again I thank everyone from the bottom of my heart for your support.  
> I love reading comments and tend to read them multiple times!  
> I love the ideas you guys send in and you guys come so close to guessing what's going to happen I love it!  
> I love you all so much thank you!


	21. Late night visit

**2:36 AM**

Mabel frowned as she looked away from the clock and towards her brother’s empty bed. Where on earth had he and Ford disappeared too? They had vanished sometime yesterday and neither she nor Stan had seen them since.

Sure she knew that the two would be spending more time together then with her, even though Dipper had promised her that Ford wanted to train her as well. The rational part of her knew Ford had said that to get Dipper to agree to be his apprentice. That’s how it had been…in the other world? In her dream?

Regardless of what it had been, it was almost the same. Ford focused mainly on Dipper and she took to learning how to properly run the shack from Stan. She didn’t mind it at all; if anything it was calming for her that some things were the same.

She helped with Ford and Dipper occasionally. She would stumble upon them spread on in the living room stuck on some problem before pointing out what the two were obviously overthinking.  She was good at that.

Pushing the covers off of her body she swung her feet out of bed laughing as they swung just a hair away from actually touching the floor. Shaking her head she pushed herself out of bed and moved over to her closet.

The soft sound of rain pattering against her window was enough of a clue that she wouldn’t want to go outside in just her sleep shirt, but she didn’t want to change completely. So she tugged on a pair of black leggings before following with black rain boots. Digging a red hoodie out from within the closet she slipped it on pulling the fur lined hood up around her face.

Moving into the hallway she stopped at the top of the stairs, the muffled voices of Ford and Dipper drifted up from the living room below. At least she knew the two were safe inside with this weather, not caught outside trying to stay dry after some random hunt. She really didn’t want to have to talk to them right now, and no doubt they wouldn’t let her go outside with the rain.

Turning away from the stairs she moved into the bathroom instead. She had climbed out of the window before, although she had grown a bit so it was much easier for her to climb out the small window this time. With no need to distract her grunkle she slid the window open and scrambled outside trying her best not to slip on the wet wood.

Thankfully because it was raining Stan wouldn’t be outside on the porch. The cracked wood didn’t keep the porch completely dry so he wouldn’t risk sitting outside, not that he would be outside at this hour anyway.

Sliding as carefully as she could off the roof she landed on the grass outside the shack crumpling to the ground under her own weight. She still wasn’t fully back to health and the grass was too slick for her to catch herself on. Scrambling to her feet she tugged the hood back up around her face before slipping away from the shack entrance and towards the woods.

There was little light with the heavy clouds covering the sky and she hadn’t grabbed her phone or a flashlight to help illuminate her path. Yet that didn’t seem to slow her down all that much. Sure the path was a bit wilder than what she remembered but it was still the same path she had walked for years.

She stilled her thoughts as she walked the soft thumping bass of a song lost to time moved with the rain as it fell around her.  Humming softly she jumped over a gnarled root, pinwheeling her arms as she landed her boots sliding a few inches as the collided with the needles under the small puddle she had found.

Laughing ripped from her throat as she launched herself upwards smashing into the puddle once more to send the droplets flying away from her. She stomped forward her feet on the hunt for any collection of water they could slam into.

How long had it been since she had done something like this? She felt the water rise around her soaking her leggings as she sunk into the newest puddle she had found. She still for a few moments as she heaved breath into her lungs the air burning her raw throat.

Lifting her feet from the mud she giggled as she fought the wet earth from stealing her boots from her feet. Once she was free of the wet trap she trudged forward towards her destination once more.

She was thankful at least the ground underneath the bushes was dry as she wormed her way through the overgrowth and into Bill’s area. Shuffling forward she stayed on all fours, the ground was mainly dry here which was odd since the trees didn’t cover the area. Ignoring it she moved towards the statue that hadn’t aged a day.

She slumped against the statue, twisting to stare up at the heavy sky. It was an interesting thing to watch, the rain seemed to almost evaporate before it got close to them. It was mesmerizing that Bill’s magic worked in little ways around her all the time.

She gripped his hand as she watched the sky. She had spent years being amazed by the tricks he could do but it seemed that there were still tricks left she had never seen. She wondered what else she hadn’t seen him do, or things he had done that she didn’t even realize he was doing.

She felt the soft tug on the back of her head and she smiled closing her eyes as she allowed the gentle grip to pull her into her mind and to where she knew he would be waiting.

She didn’t expect what she opened her eyes too.

There was one thing Bill had to explain to her throughout their relationship. Why her mindscape was gaining color. She had noticed it after a few years, her mindscape was slowly going back to what it had been before Bill invaded her mind. Pink kittens would float by as they had tea, or the sky would flash in vibrant colors as they stargazed.

He went off on a long rant she quickly zoned out on before he summed it up. The color in her mindscape was a signal of their bond. The closer they grew the more color would flood her brain because he wasn’t in complete control. They were sharing.

So the day everything completely came into color they celebrated. Although she found it harder to tell what was her mindscape and what was real life. It was shortly after that the deal was sealed and Bill was brought into the real world.

That’s why it hurt when she opened her eyes. It was still the same clearing she had fallen asleep in but everything was twitching and glitching out. The trees jumped from one place to the next while the sky sat heavy with static.

Sure there was color, it bled through the cracks that spread through the clearing. The colors were wrong though, vibrant red ran from trees while a dark blue splattered itself across the grass. She brought her hands close to her chest shifting to sit closer to the statue behind her.

_Bill?_

She quickly slapped her hands over her ears as a loud crackling screech tore through the area. It warbled for a moment before she could hear Bill’s voice peppered in between the noise.

_Bill!?_

Standing to her feet she spun around trying to see if she could spy the triangle anywhere in the area. A loud thunderous crack filled the area before everything dropped from sight. Her hands dropped from her ears as she swung her arms wildly trying to find a foothold on anything.

She watched with a sick gut as everything vanished around her and she was flung into an endless white fall. Bile bubbled in her stomach as memories flashed before her or her last day with Bill.

_Please!_

She felt the soft grip of his hand as fingers wormed their way between hers. She clung to his hand as tightly as she could twisting her head to bring his lounging form into view. Anger flared inside of her as she narrowed her eyes at the demon across from her. Why was he so calm about this?

Lifting his free hand he snapped and Mabel felt her body even out before she too was lounging in the air beside him. His grip on her hand was the only thing that kept her upright as she wobbled with the new sensation. After a moment of adjusting to the feeling she turned to face her mind partner.

His eye was half open, flashing different pictures she could tell where the same things she had been thinking of earlier. She shifted awkwardly, pulling her hand from his grip to hold onto each side of his body.

_Bill, it’s okay…I’m here now._

She lowered her body against his stretching her arms awkwardly around him to rest against his form. She felt his arms rise from his sides as they wrapped around her body. Continuing his arms noodled out to wrap around both of their bodies multiple times locking her against him.

The minute his arms stopped moving they collided against the grass and the environment flooded back into view. Splotches of proper color peppered the area and she let out a long sigh at the sight before closing her eyes and welcoming the embrace.

**M-My Star?**

His voice cracked and split as he spoke but thankfully the screeching was nowhere around when he spoke. Lifting her head as far as she could she reopened her eyes smiling softly as she saw the pictures fading from his eyes and his regular pupil split the white screen.

**Star!**

She grunted as his arms tightened around her body and his eye blinked rapidly peppering her face with his form of kisses. Her mind fogged over as the joy refilled her heart, memories flooding around them from the years they spent together. Laughter burst from her lips as she tightened her own grip burying her face in his side. Bill shifted below her as his edges softened and she was able to tighten her grip as his sides rounded themselves out.

_Bill..what the smeckity heck has been going on?_

His eye opened to stare at her as his arms unwound from her body stretching her body away from him and into the chair he had called out for her. Hovering to his own chair he lowered himself down to stare at her his fingers drumming a tune she was sure she knew on the arm rest.

**You…**

He sighed waving his hand as tea appeared before him and a rather ornate hot chocolate appeared before her. Snickering she grabbed the pink mug and held the object close to her chest. No longer disgusted by the change, she watched as his eye flashed to a mouth and he dumped the tea and cup inside his sharp teeth snapping closed before morphing back into an eye.

**You were going to die. So…I stepped in.**

Waving his hand lazily a small screen flashed behind him and the lives they had lived rolled slowly by.

**I placed yo-us…in a separate reality. It kept us together without killing you.**

He fell silent as Mabel finished her hot chocolate, resting the cup on a plate that floated by. She shoved her hands into her pockets as she buried her head backward into the chair. Lifting her legs up she brought her knees to her chest.

_So… it was all fake?_

Bill continued his silence for a few more moments before moving out of his chair and towards her. Pulling her feet from the couch he slid into her lap pressing his back against her chest.

**The world yes. What we lived? No.**

She felt the blood rush to her face as she wormed her hands out of her pockets and wrapped them around him from behind. Pressing her forehead against his bricks she sighed deeply.

_I still feel like all this is a dream and that was reality…_

His small hands rested on top of hers and he squeezed the back of her hands. They sat in a comfortable silence for a long time and it was blissful. She was thankful to see color flooding into the area as they sat together. Their bond mending as the pair remembered that they still had each other.

**Let’s make a deal kid.**

She had to stifle a laugh as she unwrapped her hands from around him allowing him to lift himself from her lap. Floating a few feet away he turned to face her extending his hand as the comforting blue flames flooded his arm.

**You get me a body, and we can live like we did.**

She stood from her chair, the object disappearing as soon as it was no longer needed. Taking a confident step towards him she slipped her hand into his own.

_We live better than that. We have a family after all._

Laughter erupted from around her before he shook her hand and sealed the deal.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ;^;  
> To the lovely anon that sent me the ask again I'm so sorry it's taken me so long to update.  
> We've been getting everything ready to go back and visit my parents in the states so it's been a bit hectic.  
> I'll try to update another chapter before next week since I'll be away from my computer.  
> I love you all so much!  
> __  
> Also I've been having some writers block lately so if anyone wants some oneshots written please just send me a pairing.  
>  I'll also write smut ;0  
> You can either send it here or through Tumblr on anon or not and I'll post them here for you.


	22. Fanart Time!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> updated with new work; 10-15-17

Hello everyone! ♥

This chapter will be dedicated and updated with artwork if anyone wants to send in any!

 //

I recently had the amazing opportunity to do an art trade with the amazing designfailure56 on Tumblr. Two of my favorite scenes to write were brought to life in such a vibrant and amazing way.  If you have a chance, go check out their other artwork! If you'd like to read my half of the trade head over to my stories and check out 'War's Seal.'

 //

UPDATE:

runswithcats here on AO3 sent me the most adorable version of the googlies I could have imagined. They're perfect! So cute and fluffy and (I might have to make some for my desk area)

 

Chapter 21.

  
By Designfailure56 on Tumblr.

 

Chapter 19.

  
By Designfailure56 on Tumblr.

 

Chapter 11

By Runswithcats on AO3.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you, everyone, for the continuous love and support for my story!  
> Keep an eye out for an update soon!


	23. Chapter 23

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For the amazing runswithcats.  
> Thank you for sending me the cutest googlies when I was in such a bad place!

Despite the uncomfortable position she had fallen asleep in she wasn’t sore when she woke up. She could still feel the effigy pressed against her back, the stone radiating warmth that crept into her bones. She slowly opened her eyes allowing them to adjust to the sunlight that flooded the area.

For the first time since they had brought her back to Gravity Falls she awoke feeling refreshed and full of energy. She knew it was Bill she had to thank for that. Now that their connection wasn’t messed up anymore the two were back in perfect harmony.

**Get Up!**

Or were they?

**MOVE!**

She rubbed her eyes trying to clear her bleary vision and figure out why Bill was screaming at her. She was safe near his statue he had proved that several times before.

It wasn’t like a monster would be able to stop them now; their bond was stronger than ever. So what could possibly have him so riled up he was screaming at her like this?

“He was right...”

His voice was like a bucket of cold water hitting her with the force of a truck. Her vision instantly cleared her wide eyes shifting to find Dipper halfway through the hole in the underbrush she used to get to the clearing.

She could feel her heart slamming in her throat as she twins stared at each other for what felt like forever. Dipper was never very good at hiding his emotions and Mabel cold clearly see them shifting across his face as his brain worked through every possibility his sister could possibly have for lying against the statue of their greatest enemy.

“Dip-”

“She’s over here Ford!”

Dipper’s voice boomed over her meek one. Her entire body twitched like untamed electricity bounced around inside of her. Ford was out here too? Dipper was one thing; she could have tried to explain the situation to him. To plead with him to see her side, how Bill had changed, he had kept her alive hadn’t he?

But Ford.

Ford was a different story, he was already paranoid. Even after they had ‘killed’ Bill the last time Ford had never believed he had truly gone away. He had run so many tests on Stan and she still wasn’t sure what he had said to get Ford to stop.

Bill’s voice was still shaking her mind as thoughts raced around. He was still telling her to get up, to run, to get as far away from here as possible.

Dipper or Ford would easily catch up to her though, she had always been faster than Dipper but she was still struggling to walk long distances after her year asleep. She surely wouldn’t be able to run for very long, plus Ford had always been faster than her, no doubt years of running on the other side of the portal.  

What was she even supposed to do if she did get away? Live off the forest? There was no way she was going to hunt innocent animals, and she didn’t have enough knowledge to know which berries were safe or not. Even with Bill’s help she wouldn’t be able to live off berries alone.  

She couldn’t leave Gravity Falls and that was something they knew. Her hiding places were limited and once word got out that she was missing the whole town would be out to look for her whether they knew the real reason or not.

She watched as Dipper retreated through the brambles and she felt her stomach uneasily flip. Scrambling to her feet she stood in front of Bill’s statue. She wouldn’t try to crawl through they would be expecting that, and she would only get hung up on the thick brambles surrounding the clearing they would be able to grab her before she got through them.

A loud crack echoed across the clearing before the bushes exploded and Mabel twisted quickly lifting her arms to shield her face as thorns blew past her. She ignored the stinging sensation rippling across her skin from the thorns that had pierced their way through her jacket and snagged her skin.

Lowering her arms cautiously her stomach flopped and Bill’s screaming intensified. It was incoherent now, his high pitched words warbled together as her brain tried to make sense of what just happened. What if she had chosen to crawl through the bushes?

What if she had decided she would go out and face her family instead of stay in here? There wasn’t enough time before Dipper’s retreat and the brambles being torn apart for her to have safely made it out.

Her heart froze in her throat and she desperately tried to swallow the lump to breathe easily again. She wasn’t sure what type of gun sat in her grunkles hand, but the smoke dancing away from the tip of the gun made it clear that was what he had fired to clear his path. Maybe it wouldn’t have hurt her?

“Mabel.”

She lifted her gaze away from the gun Ford had aimed at her to the faces of her family.  Both Ford and Dipper wore similar expressions. Dipper’s still flooded from emotion to emotion, anger, hatred, fear, hopelessness, desperation all flitting across his face.

Ford was much harder to read. Light reflected off his glasses in such a manner that she couldn’t see his eyes hiding beneath which kept most of his expression from her. His mouth was drawn in a tight line though and the rigid stance of his body portrayed one emotion.

Betrayal.

Mabel forced her fists to clench at her side to keep them from shaking; she remembered her brother’s face like this. She remembered his face torn with emotions, disbelief rocking him to his core; it was similar to how he looked when she had chosen to believe Grunkle Stan with the portal over him.

“Come quietly Mabel and Stanley won’t need to know of this.”

She wished she hadn’t pre-backed herself into a corner by standing in front of Bill’s statue. There was nothing she wanted more than to run now. She didn’t want to go with them, to wherever they were going to take her.

She didn’t want to scream though, that much was for certain. If she screamed for help, even if someone could hear her that person would most likely be Grunkle Stan. He would come to investigate and even if she wasn’t in the clearing with Bill’s statue and Ford would tell him.

She felt tears burn the edges of her eyes as she knuckles whitened with the intensity she was clenching her fists. Grunkle Stan had always been there for her, she couldn’t bear to see his face resembling that of her brothers. Not after the nightmares she knew he dealt with.

The gun tightened in Ford’s grip as his head shifted revealing his widened eyes to Mabel. His jaw clenched and Mabel could tell he had finally seen what he had missed when he had entered the clearing. It intensified his anger and betrayal tenfold making the emotions radiating off of him near suffocating for Mabel.

“Step aside.”

Bill was demanding her to run now, far past the pleasantries of simply telling her to do it. His words were harsh and sour in her mind as he demanded she flee, leave his empty shell behind and _stay alive._

Her legs remained still despite his every effort to take over and move them himself. She knew the statue was empty, but they didn’t. Maybe she could trick them into believing Bill was still trapped inside? That way if they destroyed it…they would be more inclined to believe she had nothing to do with him anymore?

Her arms were trembling as she lifted them from her side to spread herself in front of the stone. Despite knowing her plan Bill still found it stupid and was far from silent on letting her know so. Her mind faltered as he berated her, demanding she listen to him.

“N-No! He can’t fight back just leave him alone!”

Her voice pitched towards the end as her fear bubbled over and tears burnt lines into her cheeks. Dipper had turned away from her disgust painted across his face. She wondered if he would ever forgive her.

Ford’s face was calculating; trying to figure out what the end game was with Mabel. If he could save her like he failed to save them before.

“Dipper grab your sister.”

She tensed before watching her brother turn and stride towards her. With a few steps his hands were upon her and she thrashed like he meant to kill her. She had to put up a fight, make it seem like he really was still trapped inside.

Her leg swung up as Dipper lifted her and she quickly wrapped her knee around Bill’s hat trying to keep her body anchored to the stone.

“No! _No! He hasn’t done anything! Stop it!”_

She was screeching, her voice high and tight as she blubbered through more tears. Dipper’s arm wormed around her, pinning her back to his chest as he slammed his fist into the side of her leg. A yelp tore from her mouth and her leg loosened enough for Dipper to rip her away from the statue.

The edge of Bill’s hat sliced through her leggings and caught itself on her boot ripping the article from her body. Hissing she pulled her leg towards her chest helping Dipper pull her away from Bill’s statue. Her brother locked his arms around her pinning her in place as she kicked with her unsliced leg.

_Bill!_

She felt a tickle down her spine as Ford turned his attention towards her briefly, his hand gripping the handle so tightly she could hear it groaning under the pressure of his six fingered grip.

Following her cry she felt Bill step forward and could only watch through hazy vision as Ford turned the gun away from the statue and towards her.

Bill’s laugh flooded from her mouth and the pressure from Dipper fell slack for a moment before returning with crushing strength. She didn’t know how Bill was still able to speak through the rib bruising strength.

**“Oh please Sixer, you wouldn’t hurt Shooting Star now would you?”**

Rapidly twisting his arm back towards the statue Bill’s voice cut through once more forcing Ford to hesitate.

**_“Wait!”_ **

Mabel’s voice faltered in between their two octaves, Bill’s higher pitched voice near screeching tone as her own lower pitch rose in panic. Hearing Mabel’s distressed tone laced within Ford turned towards Mabill. His hand kept the gun steadily pointed towards the statue his eyes narrowing behind his glasses.

**“What’s gonna happen to poor Star here when you sever our tie?”**

A loud crack reverberated before smoke flooded the small clearing. Mabel scrunched her face closed as she felt Bill step backwards allowing her to splutter out a cough with the dust filling her mouth. The noise shattered her thoughts sending them in different directions.

She fell limp in Dipper’s arms trying to play along with the elaborate plan she was still trying to plan in her mind. Bill was quietly whispering in the back of her mind, helping her move along with what she needed to do. That she needed to calm down, breathe, make sure she played along.

She could feel Dipper’s face pressing against her head, although she knew it wasn’t for reassurance and to simply keep from inhaling the dust. His grip adjusted now that she was limp to carry her sideways in his arms.

They had always been able to carry one another; he could just do so much easier after the weight she had lost from a year asleep. She briefly wondered if she would still be able to carry him, maybe after she got some of her strength back?

Ford’s blurry figure stepped through the settling dust, his feet crunching against the larger chunks of stone as he moved towards the twins. His hand roughly grabbed her chin as he ripped it upwards and towards his face. She knew what he would be looking for, he wanted to see if her eyes were going to glow the canary yellow she knew they were when Bill stepped forward.

Slowly blinking she opened her eyes to a furious Ford, his face much closer to hers than she had expected. Furrowing her brows she twisted in their combined grip before lazily raising a hand to grab at Ford’s arm. She had to play dumb, she had to play as if she didn’t know what was going on.

“Grunkle…Ford?”

He shook her arm from his hand before retreating away from her, arms crossing in contemplation. Even without Bill whispering in her mind she knew that he didn’t fully believe that she wasn’t still possessed, that there wasn’t still some lingering bit of him inside of her telling her what to do.  He turned his attention away from Mabel and towards Dipper.

“We’ll take her to the second floor. We can wrap her leg there without Stanley knowing.”

His eyes quickly shot down to stare at Mabel for a moment before moving back towards Dipper. Both she and Bill were curious to see what he was going to do, they would have to be extremely careful not bring forth anymore suspicion.

“It’s about time she told us what happened.”

Dipper nodded before clumsily handing Mabel over to his great uncle. Sure Dipper could carry Mabel but it would be much easier for Ford to be able to carry her back to the house and into the lab. Plus he could go in first and make sure the gift shop was empty. They would have tourists today so they would have to be careful.

Mabel tilted her head into Ford’s chest, closing her eyes; she could feel him tense underneath her but relaxed after a few moments. Despite his enemies presence in his niece’s mind he still loved the girl. She was what held the Pines’ together.

Mabel on the other hand was not thinking of her family. Her and Bill were deep in conversation one of the reasons she made sure to close her eyes. She never knew if her eyes would change color when they were simply talking but now was not the time to check.

**You have to run. As soon as you can just run.**

_If they believe me I might not have to run though. They just need to believe until we get you a body._

**Star let’s make a deal I kn-**

She was shifted sharply and quickly opened her eyes. She didn’t realize that they had gotten to the shack that quickly, although his statue was never that far away from her home.

“Dipper go check the shack.”

She watched as he brother moved off into the shack and Ford shifted his feet in impatience. She knew he wanted to get to the bottom of this but she couldn’t let him. Not yet.

It didn’t take long for Dipper to reappear at the door. Quickly opening it he waved Ford forward and the older male did as he was told. Moving inside he ignored the fact that his grip on Mabel had tightened and his grip was tight enough she was sure there would be bruises.

“Hurry the next tour’s about to come in.”

Pushing past his nephew Ford moved quickly towards the vending machine, Dipper let the door slam behind him as he rushed forward opening the vending machine and allowing Ford to carry Mabel down towards the elevator.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you all <3   
> I've been feeling so bad about not being able to type to update this story for you all.   
> The support you all sent was so kind and loving I can't thank you enough.   
> I hope you all enjoy this chapter an I look forward to your comments!


	24. An End.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> IMPORTANT  
> Please understand that this is indeed the end of An Unwilling Ear.   
> The more I've written the story the more I've drifted away from it, unfortunately.  
> I've struggled to find how I've wanted the story to proceed and I think it's terribly unfair to you readers to put out subpar chapters with months between.
> 
> Now please know this isn't my last Mabil story.   
> I have another one in the works that has taken my muse and is running rampant with it. 
> 
> I am sorry for those who love this story that I'm ending it in such an abrupt manner I tried to wrap it up the best I could without just leaving the story to suffer without an end. 
> 
> I love you all!

Mabel swallowed the lump in her throat as she looked around the rather cluttered room. Dipper was moving around the room draping various cloths over items he was rearranging trying to clear a space for the three of them.

They had put her in a small red leather chair in the corner of the room while they adjusted everything. Ford was currently against the back wall where a large computer console sat, his fingers rapidly typing on the keyboard in front of him.

Neither had bothered to tie her to the chair, the door behind her had groaned loudly when they had opened it so Mabel knew she would be found out immediately if she tried to leave. Hell, they would probably hear her getting off of the chair with the way it squeaked when she shifted.

After a few moments, Ford turned to face her and Dipper shuffled away to stand by his side. The pair was silent for a while allowing Mabel to shift uncomfortably under their intense gaze. She didn’t know what the computer on the far side of the room was but she had an inkling that Bill did.

**Star, let me take over _._**

_What!?_

She watched as Ford moved towards her a strange helmet in his hand as the computer behind him began to whir to life. A loud clicking from the machine and Mabel felt fear stab her in the heart. Neither Dipper nor Ford was telling her anything, she was kept in the dark and for all she knew this machine was going to kill her.

**Star we need to get to the basement. Let me get us there.**

Ford’s arm was heavy and tight against her upper arm as he ripped her forward pulling her out of the chair and stumbling towards the computer. She was shoved onto a small stool and Dipper stepped forward replacing his grunkle's hands with his own as he held his sister down.

The helmet was placed against her head and strapped down and with a loud whir, she was turned to see her thoughts flashing across the screen. It was reading her memories?!

_Why? Dipper what’s happening? Grunkle Ford is scary! Grunkle Stan help!_

**_It’s a deal!_ **

She was shoved backward by Dipper her head cracking against the edge of Project Mentem. The collision knocked the helmet from her head and she crumpled to the floor. She could hear Ford shouting at Dipper to grab something to tie her down with.

She felt a large hand wrap around her ankle and tore her forward ignoring the fact that she smashed into the stool that had been knocked over in her fall. She finally opened her mouth screaming as her grunkle drug her towards the door.

Bill was dancing around her thoughts, unsure if he should step forward or not. They both assumed she was being dragged to the basement and according to Bill that’s where they needed to go. If they could successfully get down there then he would take over and do whatever she had just agreed too.

Ford shifted her lifting her by her leg as she kicked wildly with her other one catching him in the jaw he released her to fall into a crumpled heap on the floor. Trying to scramble to her feet she felt his large hand connect with her back and he lifted her by her sweater her hair wrapped around his fingers forcing her head to stay still.

He wrapped his arm around her chest trapping her arms by her side as his other wrapped around her legs to prevent her from thrashing. Dipper moved ahead already knowing where his grunkle was going without a word shared.

They moved to the elevator and thankfully moved downwards to where the portal used to be. Mabel hadn’t come down here since that fateful day she met her long-lost grunkle so she was unsure what they were going to find.

When the doors slid open she froze her eyes widening at the sight before her. It wasn’t the portal, that had been broken down and moved but it was a smaller style of what had been there. The rift that she had unintentionally handed to Bill had somehow been contained back into a small triangle trap.

No longer in the snow globe the rift danced and crackled against its metal barrier and Mabel wondered why her grunkle had designed it in such a manner. As if reading her thoughts Ford began to speak watching as Dipper moved to grab a chair they could tie her too.

**You need to touch it Star.**

“Ah, so you recognize the rift, Mabel? What started Weirdmageddon? After we took Bill out I managed to capture a majority of the rift before it dispersed. That way there would be no residual rift floating around for his…henchmaniacs…to come back through.”

She squirmed in his arms now frantic to break his grip, if Bill said they needed to get to the rift then they needed to get to the rift. She felt his grip tighten and she bit back a scream of frustration that bubbled in her throat.

“It was too big to force back into a smaller containment so Dipper and I were forced to build this contraption. I fear this is what let Bill back into our lives.”

She could feel the guilt welling of Ford and a light clicked in her head. Ford thought that this was his fault, just as he claimed fault for the first fiasco with Bill. Just as he claimed fault for everything that had happened, and she needed to use that to her advantage.

Tears burst from her eyes and she felt Ford stiffen around her. Bawling she shook her head hair sticking to her face and dampening from her waterworks.

“Grunkle Ford help me please!”

It took him a moment to believe her tears as he was hesitant knowing that Bill could easily be controlling her. Twisting her around he lowered her into the chair watching as Dipper struggled to untangle the rope they planned to use to tie her down.

He kept a grip on both of her shoulders as he moved slowly to kneel in front of her now that he had placed her in the chair. His eyes narrowed as he scanned over her, her eyes weren’t yellow and her voice wasn’t tainted in the way that sent chills down his spine.

“ **You can’t save her Sixer.”**

Bill burst forward her eyes flashing a vibrant gold and her voice pitching up the nasal tint striking fear into Ford. His hands relaxed only for a moment as he moved backward and Bill launched forward taking the window of opportunity that presented itself to move towards the rift.

Ford snapped back into action her rapid dive snapping him back to reality and his hand vice gripped her ankle ripping her backward and away from the cosmic portal.

Her fingers grazed against the rippling plane before she was pulled backward and for a moment she felt a disconnect, something that she could only describe as her soul ripping from her body.

Mabel fell limp as Ford drew her back towards the chair quickly shoving her against the wood as Dipper finally moved forward wrapping his sister tightly so she wouldn’t be able to move again. They couldn’t take any more risks with Mabel.

Neither had seen her actually touch the rift a triumph raising in Ford that he had prevented the coming of Bill, something he had failed to do before. He helped his nephew tie Mabel to the chair her limp form causing a bit of worry to rise in the man.

Ford’s hand rested gently against her chin as he lifted it up pulling her groggy face into view. Her eyes were half open but even in the tired state, he could tell they weren’t yellow. She opened her mouth her voice attempting to push itself out but failing to do so.

“Mabel. We need to draw Bill out of you. Don’t be scared.”

Dipper shifted uncomfortably by her grunkles side and Mabel briefly wondered if he was beginning to rethink the whole ordeal. They were the wonder twins, weren’t they? How had Dipper left her so easily? She heard shuffling as Ford dug something out of his jacket and it appeared Dipper had finally woken from his idol induced haze.

“Woah there Ford isn’t that a bit much?”

Mabel struggled to pull her grunkle into view, her vision splitting into doubles and fuzzy at the edges. She couldn’t quite make out what he was holding put whatever it was Ford had placed against the center of her head.

“Nothing is too much when it comes to Bill Dipper. We have two options.”

She heard a click by her forehead and a surge of fear pushed through Mabel as she realized what her grunkle was holding. Dipper’s hands found the older man’s arm as he pushed trying to move his aim away from his sister.

“Either Mabel forces Bill out.”

He lowered his arms for a moment only to grip Dipper by the collar forcing the younger male to stop his thrashing. He knew what his nephew was thinking, he understood the feelings but they had to push through it. They couldn’t let Bill win.

“Or we get rid of Bill the hard way.”

No matter what, Bill wouldn’t win. Dipper was crying now, his arms flailing at his great uncle as he realized the finality in his words. He would do it with or without Dipper here and he would no doubt try to cover it up from his brother just like they did before.

Stan had no idea why they got Mabel from the hospital; Ford had apparently told him some extravagant tale about some fake mythical creature and how it cursed Mabel and how fairy tale style they needed to go save her and bring her home.

Ford didn’t want to tell him about Bill, his brother had almost lost his memory fighting to end the threat that had only come back into their lives with more force. Dipper thrashed against his mentor his hands frantically grasping for the gun sitting just out of reach.

Ford moved his grip to hold Dipper with a single hand, his free hand grasping the gun once more as he lifted it to point towards Mabel.

“Get out of her body.”

Mabel swallowed the lump in her throat as she stared at him. She couldn’t feel Bill anymore, she was still groggy and weak from touching the portal and she didn’t know what to do. She couldn’t hear his words telling her what to do or what to say and the fear she had for her uncle tripled as his finger found the trigger.

“I’m going to count to three.”

Dipper’s screams nearly drowned out his warning as the teen fought against the older male’s grip. For being as old as he was Ford was still much too fit for Dipper, despite that the teen swung his arms with everything he had. He had to save his sister, this isn’t what he thought was going to happen.

“One.”

Mabel was fully awake now, the cold void that resonated from the warmth Bill had once occupied if anything helped her snap and realize the situation she was in. Bill was gone, and there was no way she was going to be able to convince her Grunkle of that.

His glasses had a sheen covering his eyes and it made him so much more menacing. Tears spilled from Mabel’s eyes as she wiggled in the chair her brother had tied her to.

“Two.”

Dipper was screaming again, Mabel was screaming alongside him now, both were begging Ford to think of another way. There was only a slight hesitation before his finger tightened on the trigger and his voice cracked with the final word.

  
“Three.”

 She heard the crack of the gun as it fired and squeezed her eyes as tightly as she could. No pain ever came, she wondered if that was just how it felt at the end of it all.

There was nothing around her, the noise of Dipper screaming had long faded and was replaced by an eerie silence. Her body felt weightless and she wasn’t quite sure if she was still sitting or if she had been moved somewhere else.

Slowly, although fear still racked her body she opened her eyes pulling a field of color into her vision. She wasn’t sure where she was, but the tall grass shimmered colors of the rainbow as the wind ruffled against it. Tall mountains splattered with unnatural colors were in the distance and she could swear the wind smelled of sugar.

She felt a hand slip into hers and she spun a wide grin splitting her lips as Bill floated silently next to her. His eye narrowed a bit in what she knew was a smile and she squeezed his hand tightly.

“Bill?”

He remained silent for a while before speaking, answering all of the questions he could still hear rattling around Mabel’s brain.

“We’re in my world now. Although you’ve made it a bit more colorful Star.”

She scrunched her nose turning her attention and body fully towards him.

“I couldn’t save you out there so I brought you in here.”

Her hand fell limp in his grip and she was thankful for the weightlessness of her body or she knew her knees would collapse under her own weight with the realization hitting her.

She was no longer around, no longer _alive_ near her brother or grunkle. She would never be near Waddles again or hear Grunkle Stan call her nicknames.

Tears burnt trails down her cheeks and she finally felt her legs give out, her body not falling to the floor as expected but hovering in a similar manner to how Bill moved about.

“We’ll be together Star. You can see Pine Tree in dreams still but…”

Bill fell silent and she knew he would never admit that what he thought he did was wrong, that he knew it had hurt her. She knew just as well as he did that she would rather be here with him then lost to the void of whatever came next for her body.

Her hand tightened once more in his grip and she let out a wavering sob before leaning herself into his embrace. They would be able to live a different life this time, they had shared a life in her world, with her family before.

Now they would be able to live a hundred lifetimes, overseeing her family and their descendants, playing tricks with the citizens of Gravity Falls.

Eventually, another rift would open, and she and Bill would be able to slip out and taste the world once more but she knew now as the pair watched the brilliant colors moving around their world they wouldn’t have a reason to leave anymore.

They were together again.


End file.
